Almathea struggles with the net, but is unable to break herself free.
"Let me out of here right now or I will melt your faces off with acid!"
Nevai looks over at Thea with a shocked expression plastered across his face. "You best do as the lady says. I haven't ever seen her like that before."
Do not stand between the wizard and a trove full of exciting magic...
Almathea flings a blob of acid up at a bowman.
Thea tries to cut herself out of the net
Almathea throws acid at one of the net throwers just as they pop up to throw, altering the man's aim, but missing. Leto's arrows slam into the ambusher's chest and he falls down to the ground at your feet. The net goes loose. Erei stabs at one of the men, but doesn't manage to prick them. And Nevai's bolt goes wide.
The six men take aim and fire again. This time shooting at the men rushing them as well as the other firing a crossbow in their direction. After firing, they drop their bows and draw kopeshes to meet the coming charge.
Most of the arrows chip off the surrounding ruins though one finds its target.
Confident that the melee bruisers can take care of the men drawing blades, Nevai reloaded and concentrated fire on the men with nets harassing his companions.
,
,
Leto shoots again at the men on the rooftop.
Setesh continues to hustle forward.
Tunar winces but keeps moving towards the had been archers.
Tunar moves to the closest man who was shooting before swinging his sword.
Erei will attempt to stab the man holding Almathea once again.
Almathea wiggles out of her net and then turns around to throw a glob of acid at a net thrower.
Between Nevai's bolt, Leto's arrows, and Almathea's acid, the remaining two net throwers fall under the assault. Tunar runs up to one of the khopesh wielding thugs and cuts him down.
The other thugs hesitate a moment after seeing their allies so easily dispatched, but two move forward to attack Tunar anyway.
The other three shrug and move forward to attack Setesh. Two approach from the sides.
The men do not seem particularly well-skilled, but they do have numbers on their side...for the moment.
After a surprisingly accurate shot, Nevai started running after the barbarian at a considerably slower pace.
Setesh takes a swing at one of the men flanking him, and then steps out of the flank.
As Tunar swings at one, his grimace turns to a grin as the fight continues in terms that are more appreciable to him. "Come on, give it all you got!"
Almathea will throw an acid glob at one of the men attack Setesh.
"You know, after dealing with undead whatevers and swarms of creepy kitties, being attacked by normal people seems almost boring."
Leto uses the advantages of a longbow and shoots from where he stands, under Ereis banner.
Setesh hits one of the assailants hard, and the man drops his weapon and retreats several feet, holding his side. The man holds up his other hand weakly in surrender. Leto's arrow finds another thug in the back, and that man also follows suit, dropping his weapon and stepping back. Tunar cuts another of the men down.
The two remaining see that they are the only ones left fighting and step back, cautiously. Their weapons are still up, but they seem unwilling to press the attack.
Erei will double move to try to get in a place where he can stab at the enemies in the next round. He will also encourage the ranged group to stay relatively close by.
Tunar keeps his sword leveled at the men as he steps up to them, to keep the distance closed. Speaking to the two remaining men by him.
"So, is that really all you got? You ambush us and then stop as soon as you are down? Put your weapons down now and live another day, or join the souls of this place."
Setesh keeps his mace raised, and clearly has murder in his eyes, but for the moment, holds his anger in check.
Trotting up behind Tunar and Setesh, slightly out of breath, Nevai huffed, "Honestly, it'll go better for you if you do as the big man says. Once he gets going it's hard to get him to stop until it's just a big bloody mess, and no one here wants that, right?"
Seeing the remaining two take a step back, Thea holds her action to see if they flee or surrender.
The two armed ruffians throw down their swords looking thoroughly defeated.
We...we surrender!
Y-yes, surrender!
The two wounded thugs try to drag themselves further away, while these two stammer.
We was just paid to attack anyone going to that old temple down that way. It wasn't nothing personal. We swear, shouts the first. The woman! She said it'd be easy pay! Just stop youse, the second blurts.
The babble about a Taldan woman that you instantly recognize as the leader of one of the other adventuring groups.
Almathea seethes. "Ooohh, that jealous b*!&#. I'm sure she just couldn't stand that our group is doing so much better than her own. I wonder if she has any information we do not concerning what lies in the temple, perhaps she knows it contains something particularly valuable and is mad that she didn't draw that lot for herself.
Caught up thinking horrible things about the Taldan woman, Almathea has already completely forgotten about the remaining thugs hired by her. She is more than willing to allow the survivors to leave on their own, as long as they leave their weapons on the ground.
Setesh keeps a careful eye upon the men, until they manage to stagger away.
He then collects their weapons, and moves to loot the other bodies.
Tunar eyes the men, a hint of annoyance. "Jumping others is the work of cowards. If you wish to flee like cowardly dogs then I won't stop you" His annoyance changing to disappointment at the loss at what had started to look like a good fight.
"Though if you have anything helpful to say, now would be a good time to do so."
"Where's the woman now?" Nevai asked, eyeing the path leading to the temple. Looking up he whistled, and a Skyblazer swooped down to his arm.
Skyblazer looked at Nevai quizzically, then at the would-be ambushers, then back to Nevai. Taking an offered treat, he took to the skies again.
Wha...we don't know! She just gave us the money and pointed the way!
The second man just shakes his head mutely in response. The other two continue to slowly make their way away from the group, bleeding as they go.
Setesh shakes his head in disgust.
"Right. Let's grab their equipment, and keep moving."
"Sure thing, mind if I hold onto one of those bows and a scimitar? My own bow isn't very good and after getting into a wrestling match in our last venture, I'd like something with a little more 'oomph' than my dagger that I can wield in one hand."
If the two men are allowed to, they run off.
Continuing on you come to the large building marked on your makeshift map. Although the temple’s central nave is symmetrical, the rest of the structure does not conform to traditional architecture, with wings and extensions on both sides that. A large dome over the apse tops the roof at the north end of the temple. The structure is windowless, and the temple’s exterior walls are carved with likenesses of several celestial figures.
No doors block the grand entrance to this building—a wide flight of steps leads directly up into the temple’s interior. Two humanoid statues flank the stairs, wearing black-and-white masks and holding quarterstaves. The corpses of nine jackals sit on the steps almost as if posed there.
Erei looks at the temple, rubbing his chin in thought. Those extensions look like they were pretty chaotically added. I mean they kept the stonework the same, but I don't think they were added as part of any unified plan. Oh, and the statues are of Nethys.
He then smiles to himself, shaking his head as he points to the jackals, And those things are not dead.
"Really? They're alive? They look fairly rotten to me..."
"They sure don't look alive, but if they aren't dead either, then that leaves only one possibility."
"Correct. Undeath is not rare in this section of the city, but this seems like it might be strange. Nethys reveres all magic, which I assume doesn't exclude the darker sides of necromancy. They may be watchful guardians intended to guard the temple from looters, or they may just be a pack of skeletal creatures that have come here to wait for prey. Another option I like even less is that they were left here deliberately by the woman that hired those men earlier and she is inside already.
"Regardless of their purpose, I would be shocked if we were allowed entry without having to fight, and wiping away undead is never a bad thing. Besides, I'm sure the Pharasmins will appreciate it."
Tunar eyes the skeletal corpses curiously.
You sure they just aren't dead? Well, either way, we are back here and they are up there. We could use the distance to our advantage and whittle them down before they could get close enough to harm us.
To clear the undead of course, not because I want to fight or anything..."
"The safest route is probably to start shooting right now and let them come to us. As a worshipper of Nethys, I'll defer to you on the best course of action," Nevai said to Almathea.
"Thank you Nevai. Though I happen to agree with you. Let's just take the straight route on in, make for the stairs and shoot at and re-kill anything that jumps up at us. I really do hate to see temples defiled by the presence of undead, especially those dedicated to my deity."
Should i shoot them for safety reasons? I mean when they are undead, what good can come from them, right?
I don't mind undead. I really don't. But I suspect those things aren't intelligent. And I suspect they'll attack us when we move further. So I am all for fighting now and chatting later.[b] Erei says, shrugging, [b]And if they turn out to be intelligent? Well, we can stop attacking and talk.
"In this case, those things are between us and our destination. So those undead things need to go."
Almathea is all for the plan to attack now. Given the short range of her spell, she hold her action untill after someone else shoots a long range weapon and the casts Disrupt Undead on the first creature to make it near the group.
Allright, then let it begin!
Leto draws his bow and begins to shoot at the nearest undead.
.
.
,
Nevai leveled his crossbow at the undead creatures and fired from 80 feet away. "Hold steady Tunar. You can tear them apart once they get close to us."