Dorn's hammer strike crushes the half-orc's skull, and the enemy collapses, clearly dead, next to the trap door.
Marikel curses and drops his shield so he can climb the ladder to join the others.
With the ladder occupied and reticent to put himself in swinging distance of sharpened steel... Vhailor delays.
While Vhailor dithers fretfully, Marikel charges up the ladder and throws open the trap door, his shield clanging to the stone floor beneath him. The first thing he sees is the crushed and mangled head of the dead half-orc, virtually eye-to-eye with him at floor level; another half-orc, unarmed, stands unarmed, his falchion at his feet.
Katrezra, a wand in his hand, throws open the door at his back which leads to the wall. Stepping into the doorway, he presents a lava rock with a shattered triangular rune carved roughly into it and snarls a few horrible syllables. The three warriors on the upper floor feel a wave of fear and doubt roll over them, but the magical precautions Marikel took before entering the tower protect them from the assualt on their minds.
Alicia dives into a roll past Katrezra and plunges her rapier into his back. As she does so, she spits something at him in his own tongue.
Despite his attempt to block the doorway, Alicia deftly tumbles between Katrezra's leg and the doorframe, coming up behind him on the wall in the open air and stabbing the hideous half-orc in the back.
Dorn steps up next to the cleric, "Come to join the party, lad? Should've stayed home, it's not a very good one," he says with a wink as he attacks his new target.
As the half-orc seems to easily sidestep him, the dwarf rolls his eyes in frustration. "See?! I told ya it stinks!"
Perhaps learning from the example of his very dead companion, the half-orc successfully moves his skull out of the path of Dorn's hammer. He glances at the falchion at his feet but is wise enough not to try to grab it up with the dwarf threatening him. Instead, he steps back and draws his bow, loosing an arrow at the dwarf which whizzes past his ear and smashes itself against the stone wall of the tower.
Ignoring the archer, Marikel steps in behind Katreza, flanking him with Alicia.
"You fool. You could have had a life here and you threw it away. Why?"
With no shield, Marikel thusts his sword two handed at the sandwiched sorceror.
Vhailor looks at the shield, then the ladder... momentarily furrows his brow and then makes a move to ascend carefully.
Vhailor stops atop the ladder and ferrets around his person... revealing the wand that emits bolts of force.
Vhailor arms himself with a wand.
Katrezra scoffs at Marikel. "N lewe? Wil jy hê dat jy jou patetiese krabbel op hierdie heuwel noem?" Then he speaks, through a thick accent, words in the Common tongue. "You serffe your gott; I must serffe mine." He steps out the door, slamming it on Marikel with his gauntleted hand, and touches himself with the wand.
Alicia kicks open the door again, then takes a step back and prepares to stab Katrezra again.
Ali reopens the door, steps into position, and waits to deliver what she feels sure will be a killing blow.
Dorn moves up to attack the lone half-orc left in the room, hoping to bring it down so they can all concentrate on the leader.
The half-orc manages once again to dodge the dwarf's blow; however, caught between Dorn and Marikel, and with his falchion on the floor near the ladder, he has few options. Frozen with indecision, he waits for a possible opportunity.
"Then join your dark god," Marikel snarls. He steps to flank Katreza and lashes out again with his sword.
As Marikel steps into the doorway, Alicia's rapier flashes, cutting deeply into Katrezra's throat and spraying arterial blood across the stone wall. By the time Marikel plunges his own sword into the half-orc's torso, he may already be dead; he certainly is afterward, crumbling bloodily atop the wall.
Seeing the mastermind behind their sabotage fall, the half-orc in the tower throws down his bow and surrenders.
Marikel rounds on their new prisoner, sword still in hand.
"Help us get the gate up, and the punishment for your crimes will be lessened."
The half-orc gapes at Marikel. "He told us to break it," he accuses, pointing at Katrezra's bleeding corpse. "I don't ... I ain't no blacksmith. We snapped it off. Breaking things is always easier than fixing them."
Marikel looks from Alicia to the fallen Katreza and back to Alicia again.
"Are you any good at fixing things, Miss Dawnblade?" Marikel asks with the slightest hint of a smile.
"The rest of us will see if we can lift the gate somehow. Including you," Marikel advises the half-orc. "What's your name?"
Alicia snorts and shakes her head. "Better at taking things apart, but who knows?"
With that, the rogue goes over to take a look at the mechanism.
Tugging of Marikel's elbow Vhailor suggests "We might make decent attempt with brute force... just everyone grab here... there... of and over there and... ummm... pull?"
Examining the broken device, Alicia can see that there is no way short of soldering it or replacing the part to make the mechanism functional again. She can see how it should work, however, and if the portcullis were to be lifted manually, she believes she could jury-rig a make-shift stop to lock it in its raised position.
"I could make a stop for it, if you guys can figure out how to lift it," Ali offers.
Vhailor stands still blinking... unsure of whether Alicia had heard his suggestion and ignored it... or whether his small voice had been lost in the mix. He repeats his suggestions a little more slowly and a little more loudly.
Vhailor stands still blinking... unsure of whether Alicia had heard his suggestion and ignored it... or whether his small voice had been lost in the mix. He repeats his suggestions a little more slowly and a little more loudly.
Marikel and Dorn, with the assistance of the half-orc who gives his name as Kagak, apply themselves laboriously to lifting the heavy portcullis, under the direction of Vhailor while Alicia stands ready to lock the broken gate in place when it is high enough. The three men have only gotten the bars high enough above the ground for the gnome to slip under comfortably when heavy footsteps can be heard hurrying down the way they recently came, from higher up the hill.
"Vhailor? Can Alicia lock it? We've company."
Marikel struggles to look behind, while keeping a wary eye on Kagak.
Much to everyone's relief (perhaps not Kagak's), the person approaching proves to be Omast Frum, armed and armored and hustling rather breathlessly down the hill in their direction.
"Padre!" the dwarf calls out as he approaches. "What's going on? They've been saying we've traitors inside the walls!"
"We had. A half-orc named Katreza organised the discarded half-orcs to take the gate house."
He glances to Kagak.
"Most of them are dead now, but they've broken the wheel. Help us raise the portcullis before the troops fall back. Miss Dawnblade is inside and can jam it open for now."
"Yeah, we could use all the help we can get on this one," he says, the sweat rolling off his face as he works to keep lifting.
The former Patrol Captain hustles up and and places his own shoulder beneath the heavy bars of the portcullis. With some effortful moments of struggle, the four men are able to raise the gate high enough for Alicia swiftly to lock the mechanism in place with a spoke of the broken wheel.
Omast Frum steps away cautiously, eyeing the portcullis warily in case the jury-rigged stop suddenly fails. "Who'd you say was behind this, Padre?" he asks.
Having locked the mechanism in place, Alicia hurries down the ladder and outside to rejoin the others.
"Who'd you say was behind this, Padre?"
"A half-orc named Katrezra recruited and bullied these half-orcs, mainly from the Howling Hound, to take the gate here and trap our fighters. He's dead in the right tower there."
Marikel gestures at the fallen around him."These are most of his followers. Miss Alicia may find some more clues on his person."
Marikel nods for Alicia to return to the tower.
"And Kagak here can tell you more. He's seen the error of his ways and will cooperate fully to atone for his treachery. I have to check the other tower. Miss Alicia found bodies there but we hadn't the time to find survivors."
Marikel glances behind Omast and frowns.
"Didn't you bring anyone with you?"
Alicia huffs and rolls her eyes and goes back inside the tower to search the fallen half-orcs.
Marikel will also channel to heal everyone as they gather round.
"A half-orc named Katrezra recruited and bullied these half-orcs, mainly from the Howling Hound, to take the gate here and trap our fighters. He's dead in the right tower there."
Marikel gestures at the fallen around him.
"These are most of his followers. Miss Alicia may find some more clues on his person."
"Katrezra," the dwarf muses. "Doesn't ring a bell. Not a local. Of course, no true Trunauan would betray his neighbors. Just this ringleader, lass!" he calls after Alicia as she returns to the tower. "We don't have time to count pocket change!"
"Didn't you bring anyone with you?"
"We've already got the most part of our warriors at the palisade," he scowls back at the priest. "No point in letting the gate fall and people's homes burn because we're holding our best forces in reserve. I brought a handful down to reinforce the Upper Gate," he gestures up the hill behind him. "It's going to be up to us to defend this position if the palisade is breached."
"It's going to be up to us to defend this position if the palisade is breached."
"Dorn, Vhailor."
Marikel nods at Kagak, then turns to Omast."I'll see if there's any other help left."
Marikel makes his way to where Alicia advised the bodies were. If he can he drags a ladder with him to reach them.
Vhailor nods at the instruction, and turns to Dorn with a wan smile. He proffers one suggestion "If we get them close and bunchy I've got a trick that might send a few senseless... but it's a pretty big if..."
The dwarf nods at Marikel before turning toward Vhailor. "Bunchy huh? I'll see what I can manage," he says, pondering his options. Looking back in the direction of Skyreaver, "Reaver! Gonna be needin' ya, me friend." The roc - preening his feathers - stops what he's doing and heads in the dwarf's direction at a leisurely pace. Noticing, Dorn can only shake his head and roll his eyes at the bird. "Pathetic."
Marikel finds the soldiers who had been manning the Inner Gate tossed unceremoniously into the windowless, doorless base of the uphill tower. The ladder that reached to the trapdoor has been destroyed to keep anyone who might have regained consciousness from escaping, but among the supplies stored in the tower, the priest finds a rolled rope ladder which can be quickly substituted. Like the townsfolk in the Killin' Ground, the Patrol members have been brutalized and beaten to unconsciousness but not finished off, presumably so they could be offered to the attacking orcs for sport.
"We'll get them bunched up for you good at the gate when we drop the portcullises," Frum assures Vhailor. "The trick'll be to let all our wounded through without letting too many damned orcs in with them. Drop the gates too soon, and you're trapping townsfolk on the wrong side of the wall; but drop them too late, and we'll have half the Twisted Nail in the Inner Quarter to fight. Come on, let's get these barricades set up. There's some good weapons to brace against a charge in that barrel over there, and we've got a few surprises for the damned orcs: two bundles of logs ready to be cut free and roll downhill to take the legs out from under them, and a boulder Gorkis Meeson doctored up for us. Got some goo on it you can light with a torch and send it down the hill at them as well."
The dwarf recruits Dorn and Vhailor to help him move the barricades into position, leaving a single path open for the retreating townsfolk to get through.
Marikel prays to Iomedae over the unconscious guards and channels a burst of positive energy which closes their many wounds.
"Friends. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Marikel Selentin. I'm with the Church of Iomedae. You've been betrayed by elements from within Trunau, but my companions and I have defeated them and now hold the inner gate. While the traitors within have been dealt with, the battle still rages without. Trunau needs us to rise to its defence. Return with me to your posts and may Iomedae, Goddess of Valour and Righteousness, bless us all. Trunau forever! Live free or die!"
Marikel leads the troops back to the inner gate, giving Alicia a meaningful glance as he does so.
Alicia comes back holding an armful of items as Marikel arrives, and returns a puzzled look for his meaningful glance.
Marikel's channeling gets all but one of the eight soldiers back on their feet; the last is groggily conscious. He helps them up the rope ladder, across the wall, and down the other tower to rejoin Omast in the open.
The dwarf inspects the bruised and bedraggled Patrolmen. "You two, you're in no shape to fight," he separates the two most injured. "And you two," he points to two more, "you're little better. Back to the Longhouse with you. The rest of you, you ready to fight?" Getting an affirmative answer, he directs them, "You two, man the gatehouses. Yes, I know that one's broken; when the last of our people have fallen back, you pull out that pin and drop the portcullis on the damned orcs. And you two, man the barricades and be ready to close up the path of retreat behind our folk."