Skaar tries to open the eastern door and finds that it is stuck.
The massive greenskin frowned at the obstruction but wasn't ready to give up. Skaar squared himself with the door, got into a low position, and tried to quietly drive a shoulder into it.
Skaar's thrust gets the door open enough to pass through. A quick glance reveals the obstruction: a pile of bodies set against the door.
Skaar muscled his way through the blocked doorway and after verifying the hall is clear, motioned for the rest to follow.
Harakhty pads by as he is bidden, glancing at the bodies as he passes.
As the group enters the room, a cannonball suddenly decimates the left wall and firmly embeds in the right. The dust settles after a moment, the sunlight from the sizable hole clearly illuminating the room. There is a single door to the north.
Harakhty takes a look at the bodies. They look like palace guards and nobles, clearly stripped of their valuables, weapons and armor.
Skaar looked left for a sign of where the shot came from and then crouched low as he approached the northern door.
"Maybe we shoulda asked him what kind of distraction he had in mind."
Skaar opens the north door easily only to find four cultists rushing from the opposite side of the hallway to investigate the sound.
Initiative:
Round 1: Everyone, Cultists
***
Skaar pounded his chest and gestured for the cultists to draw closer.
"Come get some!" the hulking Orc bellowed in challenge as he waited for the cultists to get closer.
Cyna moves adj. to Skaar and signals for him to flank then readies her blade to strike.
His crossbow ready in his right hand, Harakhty strafes slightly to get a clear shot through the doorway - once the massive Orcish frame moved.
Aurelea moves to Skaar's other side.
"Draw them in closer and get ready to step back." she whispers before beginning to mutter an incantation.
Drago holds his position and readies a shot.
Three of the cultists draw their bows and take turns attempting to perforate the orc before them. The fourth retreats to the room it came from.
;
;
;
It seems that they will not come closer until they run out of arrows.
Round 2: Everyone, Cultists
Skaar grunted in pain as one of the arrows lodged itself in the meat of his thigh.
"They're not moving..."
"Then we must take the fight to them. Move in!" Harakhty took the extra time in waiting to don his buckler from his back, delaying only as long as it took for an opening to form for him to press through the doorway.
"I was hopin' you'd say that", the hulking Orc said as he lumbered forward and moved in to flank the archers.
"$^#@^# this!" Aurelea snarls as she rushes into the room, sword shifting subtly as she charges, blade gaining a sharper edge as she draws a dagger with her free hand and sends it tumbling towards the first cultist.
Drago moved into the room and fired at the closest Cultist.
Aurelea's dagger finds its mark and wounds one of the cultists.
Moving in and to the left, Harakhty took careful aim with his crossbow, waiting for the appropriate chance to strike; he didn't want to hit Aurelea by accident.
Cyna moves in and tosses a Chakram at the leading cultist.
"Lets make this quick."
Cyna's attack hits, but the cultists drop their bows, draw their swords and flank the orc.
;
;
The remaining cultists fires an arrow at Aurelea.
;
Round 3: Everyone, Cultists
Cyna moves to (O24) and attacks the same cultists with her scimitar.
Skaar growled in pain as one of the blades drew a deep gash along his ribs.
Determined to restrain one of his attackers, the hulking greenskin grabbed the northern cultist.
A path opened on the cultist near the left side of the room, so Harakhty let fly with a bolt from his crossbow, reloading it even before he saw if it hit his target.
Drago, once again, moved into position and spoke, "Shochraos."
Harakhty and Cyna's attacks finish off the battered cultist, while Skaar grapples with the other that was flanking him.
With a snarl of anger Aurelea breaks into a run, charging the cultist that grazed her with a bowshot.
Aurelea slashes at the cultist before her.
The cultist facing her drops his bow and attacks with his sword.
;
The other attempts to break Skaar's hold on him.
;
Round 4: Everyone, Cultists
Cyna moves to (P21) and attacks the cultist (C1)
Skaar laughs at the cultist's efforts to break free.
"At least this one had da guts to wrestle properly."
The big orc took a long step and brutally bulldogged his opponent into the palace floor.
Easily deflecting the cultists attack, Aurelea brings her blade around in a high arc.
Harakhty reloaded his bow, and, seeing the cultists' imminent fate, turned his head - he didn't have the stomach for the brutality.
Drago reloaded and waited to see if an opportunity at a clean shot would appear.
Cyna strikes the cultist, dealing him another wound, but Aurelea's attack misses. Skaar drops the other cultist onto the floor.
C3 hp: 1
The standing cultist makes an attack against Cyna, while the other struggles to free himself.
;
;
Round 5: Everyone, Cultists
From his superior position, the big Orc shifted his hold until he was mounting the cultist and then began mercilessly pounding him with his massive fists.
Aurelea reverses the direction of her blade, stepping into a better position before striking again at the cultist