Shoving her way past the two Patrolmen, Ali wedges a stone between the spokes of the crank. It ought to hold for a while ... if the orcs outside aren't too strong.
Another orc outside the gate joins the effort.
The orc Dorn has been shooting gives the dwarf a dark glare over his shoulder, steps to where Skyreaver gives him a bit of soft cover, and attempts to help lift the gate. Inside the tower, the crank clanks audibly against the stone, but the jury-rig holds.
Back outside, Marikel and his sword abruptly return to their natural size....
Marikel sheathes his sword and retrieves the longspear he earlier dropped.
Marikel switches weaponry.
The gnome inches cautiously around the edge of the tower and targets the orc inside the portcullis with his mind-befuddling magic.
The lizard releases the Patrolman's leg, which continues to spurt blood, and takes a fruitless snap at the roc.
Some time later, Mahath heard someone shout his name and saw one of his cousins in the Patrol. "The Chief Defender's party has joined the battle outside the walls; looks like that's the last group of invaders the Twisted Nail can spare as long as she keeps their hands full. But there's a catapult at the Barterstones still operational! That's how the orcs broke through the wall. If they keep pounding us, our defenses will be spread too thin! I promise I'll keep an eye on your dwarf's magic shop, if you'll carry a message to the Inner Gate to tell acting Patrol Captain Frum that we need a small group of volunteers to storm the Barterstones and disable that catapult!"
Overhearing the request, Levvy joined Mahath to carry the message, but as you turn the corner near the Hopespring, you see three orcs attempting to break through the Inner Gate....
At the sight of the orcs, Levvy takes a deep breath and moves forward on the unsuspecting orcs. She holds out her hands in front of her and casts a spell. Jets of flame streak over the orcs. She then braces for when they will inevitably come at her.
Levvy moves forward and engulfs the orcs at the gate in fire.
From the other side of the gate, the defenders see flames burst inexplicably over the orcs. The one on the inside of the gate, with arrows already sticking out of him, collapses next to the bars.
The next moment, the archer on the wall calls out, "Citizens! Defenders from the Lower Quarter!"
"Open the gate!" Omast Frum chortles triumphantly. "We got 'em flanked!"
With a roar of outrage, one of the charred orcs at the gate turns on Levvy, drawing a hook-shaped sword. The witch easily dodges his downswing, however.
As they come on the scene of the battle, Mahath thinks he recognizes the roc engaged with the lizard, so he calls on one of his most powerful spells to try and confound the lizard and the orcs before him. He dips a finger in his pouch, pulling them forth with a pinch of dust. He sends the dust into the air with an arcane syllable, causing the dust to magically sail toward the foes and explode outwards.
Casting Glitterdust centered on AD/AE 11/12. I believe that will get the orcs and the lizard without hitting any allies. DC 17 will save for each to avoid being blinded, plus they are all bedazzled now.
The area between the towers is instantaneously filled with sparkling dust.
Omast Frum drops his crossbow in the road and advances across the orc- and lumber-strewn road as quickly as he can, drawing a greatsword. "Padre, Floyd's looking in a bad way," he calls back to Marikel. "Anything you can do for him?"
The other Patrolmen follow the Captain's lead, replacing their javelins and striding forward, drawing melee weapons.
Throwing Alicia an apologetic glance, one of the Patrolmen in the gatehouse pulls loose the rock she wedged in the works and begins to spin the crank to open the gate.
The archer on the wall calls down, "No more targets right now, Captain, but if they run, I'll be ready for them!"
Hank lends his strength to the other Patrolman, and the disputed portcullis raises.
Seeing the gates open, Dorn drops his bow, picks up his shield and moves over the dead bodies while drawing his warhammer.
The bird continues his assault on the lizard with the idea of making a meal out of it.
Dorn abandons his bow, rearming himself with hammer and shield as he advances toward the gate.
Its reptilian eyes full of glitter, the lizard has a much harder time anticipating the roc's attacks. It writhes in pain and anger as the bird pecks and claws bloody wounds through its scales.
Sparkling incongruously but not mechanically hampered by it, another orc moves away from the now-open gate to face the nearest threat. Drawing its hooked sword, it slashes at Levvy, ripping a bleeding gash down her arm.
With a frustrated huff at Omast Frum's change of orders, Alicia moves back to the door and retrieves her hand crossbow.
Her eyes squinted painfully around the arcane motes, the female orc draws a double-headed axe. "Verdedig my!" she shrieks blindly, failing to blink her eyes clear of the foreign particles.
Marikel clambers over the debris and bodies to take up position at Omast's right hand side. He drops his shield to grasp the longspear effectively in both hands but not before he waves that hand over Floyd with a word to his Goddess.
The blood ceases to spurt from Floyd's mauled thigh.
The gnome contorts himself to peer between Dorn and the curved wall of the tower, fixing his eye on the glittery orc fighting the newcomer and reaching out to numb his target's mind.
The lizard blindly snaps at the air in the direction the roc is attacking from but closes its strong jaws on nothing.
Clutching at her wounded arm, Levvy steps back away from the orcs attacking her. "Time for your luck to run out!" she gasps at the orc still nearest her. Under her breath, she adds, "And hopefully not mine as well."
Levvy puts a bit of space between herself and the orcs.
The orc steps after her and swings its hook-shaped sword again but comes no closer to injuring her than it did the first time.
Mahath is unsure if all of the orcs were blinded or not, but clearly the one attacking Levvy was not! With a word and a gesture, he shot a searing beam of heat at that brazen orc.
Casting scorching ray, targeting orc 23.
Ranged touch attack
Damage fire damage.
The wizard moves just off the road and targets the orc with a ray of fire. With a roar that peters into a pathetic whimper, the creature collapses into a charred heap.
Marikel clambers over the debris and bodies to take up position at Omast's right hand side. He drops his shield to grasp the longspear effectively in both hands but not before he waves that hand over Floyd with a word to his Goddess.
"Much obliged, Padre," the dwarf nods politely before stepping gingerly over Floyd and hacking a deep gash into the blinded lizard with his greatsword. The reptile curls into an insensate ball, its wildly twitching tail the only sign that it is still clinging to life, if not consciousness.
The lizard dealt with, the next Patrolman wades through the corpses to swing his sword at the animal's handler. Overeager, he completely misses the virtually defenseless orc.
Another Patrolman makes his way through the gate to Levvy. "You all right there, miss?" he asks, gawking a little at the smoking corpse to which Mahath reduced the Twisted Nail tribesman.
Another Patrol member follows right behind.
Hoping to get in on some of the action, one of the Patrolmen who opened the portcullis makes his way out of the gatehouse.
The archer on the wall continues to stand ready to shoot anything that looks hostile.
The other Patrolman in the gatehouse begins to follow his compatriot but stops and winces in pain, obviously still injured from his fight in the upper room. Displaying the better part of valor, he returns to the ladder to reclaim his post as archer on the wall.
Dorn steps over the dead bodies and moves past his allies. "Excuse me! Comin' through!" Making his way past, he moves to the closest orc and attacks.
As the lizard seems to no longer be putting up a fight, the roc heads for the orcs that are still a threat.
Dorn pushes his way into the gate and shows the hapless Patrolman how it's done, crushing the blinded orc woman's skull like eggshell between his warhammer's head and the tower wall.
The roc flutters over the dwarf's head and tears at the dazed orc, the last one standing, but Vhailor's cantrip leaves the tribesman unable to respond.
Alicia hustles over toward the now-open gate. She spots a surviving orc and reloads her hand crossbow with a quarrel from the case at her belt.
Marikel rushes past Omast and his fallen patrolman and over the lizard to aid Dorn and bring his longspear to bear against the final orc.
Alicia moves toward the remnants of the battle, slipping a tiny bolt into her crossbow.
Marikel also moves forward and jab at the last orc standing, but the tip of the spear fails to penetrate its leather armor.
The gnome and his cat continue slowly to move through the gate.
"Much better now, thank you," Levvy says to the patrolman. She turns her gaze towards the last remaining orc and calls out in Orcish.
Mahath moves to the north, getting a good line of sight on the orc. He uses a simple spell to try and take it down.
Move to AD5 and cast ray of frost at twisted nail 22.
To hit ranged touch attack
Damage
Edit: possible crit, confirm:
Damage
Mahath ended one orc with fire and now ends another with ice, a well-aimed cantrip freezing its skin as black as he charred the other's.
"Well now," Omast Frum drawls, strolling through the gate and kicking idly at the dead orcs, "when I ordered the gate opened, I thought it was warriors out here to pin them between us. But you did real good," he compliments the magic-users. "What news from the front lines?"
As what currently appears to be the last orc falls, "Finally." The dwarf puts up his shield and his weapon and wipes a bit of sweat off his brow. He then looks to the newcomers and awaits with interest to see if they do have any news.
Skyreaver lands next to him, blinks a couple of times before picking at something under his wing with his beak.
"There's a catapult at the Barterstones," Levvy says. "We need people to help take it out."
"Someone's got to hold this gate," Omast replies, glancing around at the Patrol members. Six are in good health, one is walking wounded, one unconscious. "Hank, get down here and carry Floyd up to the Longhouse for healing. I can hold the gate with six men. Padre, can you and your group take the Barterstones?"
Hank slides awkwardly down the ladder and hands over his bow and quiver to a fellow militia member. He stoops to sling Floyd over his shoulders but winces and staggers sideways.
"I can help," Vhailor volunteers. "I may not be able to hold him far off the ground, but I can hold his feet off the ground if you take the shoulders. Here," the gnome hands Marikel three scroll cases. "You might need these."
"Let's go then. We can talk on the way."
Marikel grabs the scrolls from Vhailor and makes his way over to his dropped shield. With a glance at his longspear he places it in a nearby barrel and takes up his shield in the now empty hand.
"Iomedae's healing powers are still with me, but if we need to take out that catapult, Floyd will forgive me if I leave him to the care of the others."
Marikel looks back to Vhailor as if trying to remember something.
"Thank you. I'm... sorry. Your ways have been peculiar but you've been with us, facing constant danger, all this time. If I don't see you again, I am truly sorry I haven't shown you the respect you deserve."
Marikel turns away quickly and strides past the newcomers.
"Show us the way. Wizards, hey? Vhailor's stuff may be useful. Check it as we go."
Marikel thrusts the scroll cases at Levvy.
"That was a brave thing you did but you needed support. You can have my last healing potion. I have some of Rabus' Pick-Me-Uppers, two, but we'll need you sober for this. I'm Marikel and this is...
He turns.
"MISS ALICIA! Have you finished looting those bodies?... Did you find anything useful?"
"Oh, and Mister Dorn." Marikel gestures to the dwarf.
"And..." Marikel gestures at the Roc and shrugs.
Levvy takes the scrolls, but shakes her head at the potion. "I don't want to use up the last of your healing potions. I have my own. But thank you. I'm Levvy. That's Mahath."
She places the scrolls into her pack and pulls out a potion. "We can go through these scrolls a little later when there's more time," she tells Mahath. She then drinks the potion.
Marikel nods and drinks his own potion.
Nodding in greeting, "Dorn. That'd be me. And what the lad's tryin' ta say is that'd be me bird. Skyreaver's his name. But I just call 'em Reaver." He then remembers his dropped bow and stops in mid-story. "Oh wait! Me bow!" He then moves back over the dead bodies, falling a couple of times right in the midst of them because he's going too fast, but eventually recovers and makes it back to the party. "Okay! I'm back. They really should get those dead 'uns gathered up. They're a hazard! Anyway, like the Padre said, walk and talk and all that business. As I was sayin'," he starts again, returning to his original conversation to the newcomers, "Reaver and I, we go way back. Sometimes he can be a bit ornery but for the most part, he's a good lad." He looks over at the bird who's right behind him, keeping pace as best he can. It is noticed that the roc has to continuously switch between flying and walking just to keep pace. Grinning, "Of course, if he could talk, he'd probably say the same about meself," he winks. He then pulls his shield and hammer back out and reequips them as they move. "Alright, I'm ready. Let's take us out a catapult," he says, clanging his hammer upon his shield.
Alicia gives Marikel a disgusted scowl as she resheathes her rapier and stows her hand crossbow. "Why do I have to loot them?! They're covered in blood! Not to mention they're disgusting on their own."
Levvy nods a couple of times as Dorn goes on about his bird. When he finishes she turns to Dorn and says, "He doesn't eat rats, does he? He better not eat rats." As she speaks, the head of a small black rat peeks out from under her cloak.
Mahath frowns with concern as Levvy stashes the scrolls, but says nothing. He thinks Last time I gave her a scroll, she burned it and fed it to that rat of hers...
"Miss Alicia, you should take it as a compliment. Clearly, he trusts you not to miss anything of importance. I will help."
Mahath will cast detect magic across the fallen, and he'll tell Alicia if he senses anything. Beyond that, he will shift and turn bodies at her instruction to help get through the chore.
When the chore is done, he'll use presdigitation to clean his gloves.
Most of the dead orcs were carrying nothing which registered to Mahath's magical vision, but a few of them have minor auras at their belts. He finds a total of five potions, a magical scabbard, eleven vials which contain non-magical liquid of some kind, and a bag of caltrops.
Levvy nods a couple of times as Dorn goes on about his bird. When he finishes she turns to Dorn and says, "He doesn't eat rats, does he? He better not eat rats." As she speaks, the head of a small black rat peeks out from under her cloak.
The dwarf waves her off, "Noooooo, no he doesn't eat rats. Lizards maybe, but not rats," he says with confidence. Grinning, he casually looks over at Skyreaver wherein his look turns serious as he attempts to be subtle with the motioning of his hand across his throat and mouthing, "Dim llygod mawr!" Giving the roc a stern look just to emphasize his seriousness, the dwarf turns back with a friendly grin.
Just as he's about to say something, Skyreaver screeches loudly which makes the dwarf jump. Pondering giving the over-sized bird a big what for, he lowers his frustration, smiles and says, "Yeah he hates 'em," nodding assuredly.
Levvy nods and responds in Dwarven. Then she stares intently at Dorn for a moment before smiling and saying, "Okay, let's get to the catapult and deal with more orcs!" The rat ducks back under her cloak.
"I, err... didn't think you minded," Marikel responds to Alicia. "And we're all a bit disgusting. War isn't pretty, even if you... I mean..."
Marikel hurries on.
"As Mister Mahath suggests, those look important. Should we take one each? And that scabbard looks like it will fit my sword. What does it do?"
At Marikel's request, Mahath takes up the scabbard. With a pass of his hand, he cleans the scabbard of all soiling. Then he focuses on it, seeking to parse out the enchantments laid upon it.
Spellcraft to identify the scabbard, .
After long moments focused on the scabbard, Mahath says "It would indeed fit your sword. Or even an axe or dagger. When you sheathe a weapon in it, the scabbard sets about honing the edge. In a mere minute, it sharpens a blade edge as much as a craftsman with a whetstone could accomplish in much more time." He offers the scabbard out to no one in particular.