Kris is ready to kick off but he's patient...for now.
The party seems unable to calm down the guards, and the two guards get into a fighting stance.
"Bang!", says Kris as he moves forward, then his rifle does likewise.
Elsa rapidly casts and attacks the closest foe
Even as Kris moves up, Zyrel moves to close with the furthest guard, spear at the ready.
Armanus holds his action. He sees the current situation as hopeless for the defenders and wishes not to waste any spells.
Aakif raises his holy symbol of Abadar as the party begins the fight, and their hearts fill with courage and purpose.
The party unleashes a hail of bullets and magic missles at the closest guard, and yet he stays standing.
Zyrel bolts across the room and thanks to Aakif’s blessing strikes true with his spear.
The closest guard grunts and mutters, ”Alright, now you’re in for it.” He heads up the stairs and slashes Elsa for 5 damage. The other guard jogs backwards and throws a bag at Zyrel, though he’s able to dodge out of the way as an eruption of foul-smelling goo bursts from the bag.
Kristleifur sees Elsa getting cut - and this annoys the hell of him.
"Nah, you die!", he says, continuing to open fire!
The fact that the gnome was already trying to gun down this very guard doesn't seem to cross his mind.
Aakif races into the room with incredible speed. He brushes past Badhru, then hops down from the elevated platform. Now moving next to Zyrel, he takes a shot at the fleeing bandit, but he's too hasty and misses.
The chelish tiefling blanches as Elsa get cut by the the defender, clearly overestimating their chances. Determined not to make that mistake again, Armanus channels an arcane missile at the defender who attack the sl..halfling.
Zyrel flinches as he narrowly dodges a probability where he shoots Aakif out of reflex.
He considers, mind running at lightning speed.'Armed with a sword, choosing to withdraw. He's likely going for backup. He's blocking the corridor, so it is unlikely I can get past him. Possibly if I wasn't in my heaviest armour. He hasn't turned to run - but at best closing will buy me one round. On the other hand, he might believe he can take one of us, especially if we are primarily ranged. That gambit requires him not overhearing communication though...'
"Keep him here. We want Kurst." he issues the command to Akaif, turns his back, charges up the stairs to stab the aforementioned guard.
A gladius flashing in his hand, Badhru blurs through the room, circling around to engage the man from the other side of the stairwell. however, in his scramble up the stairs he lashes out early, cursing as his opponent easily sidesteps.
He hears Woodrose's voice in his head. What'd I always tell you about rushing?
Ow! that hurt!
Elsa steps back, and casts again
reflex DC 15 for half
Kris strikes the warrior with a nonmagic missle while Armanus strikes him with two magic ones. He’s also unable to dodge out of the way of Elsa’s cone of electrcity as Zyrel dashes in to strike with a spear. Unable to stand up to the combined assault, Kurst falls.
The other guard yells, ”No! Kurst!” He pulls out a vial and drinks it before advancing of Aakif, drawing a longsword as he does.
"Surrender, and he may yet live!" Aakif yells
He takes a slight step back, and focuses his gaze upon the man's longsword, heating it up to a glowing red.
"Better do it quick! I'm not stopping until I hear surrender!", adds Kristleifur, who moves to get a line of sight and fires upon the other guard.
Elsa pulls a bottled lightning vial off her bandolier but doesn't use it.
You cannot win, your case is lost. Yield and save your life
Unfortunately, noise, distance and action muted her threat
Elsa pulls a bottled lightning vial off her bandolier but doesn't use it.
You cannot win, your case is lost. Yield and save your life
The tiefling draws his firearm as well, feeling he will need his spells for later.
"I'd listen to the lady if I were you!!"
The guard manages to throw his sword to the ground before it begins to burn him. He throws his hands in the air as Armanus snarls at him, ”Don’t kill me! I’ll stand aside, just help Kurst!”
Kris keeps aiming at the guard's chest but ceases shooting.
"You said the magic words! You get to live!"
Aakif shuffles over to Kurst to examine his condition, and provide first aid if he's bleeding out.
Aakif easily patches up the man’s wounds, and the still conscious guard exhales heavily and says, ”Thank you. He’s my best friend. I’ll get out of here, take him with me. I don’t know what your purpose is here but I don’t care to find out.”
Kris says:
"Fine by me. Quick question: who's up ahead?"
"I understand, and may Abadar show mercy upon you. In return, please remove all your gear. You may keep personal mementos and holy symbols."
Afterwards, he picks up Kurst and gives him to the man.
Badhru nods at his comrades' work. A nice blend of diplomacy and extreme violence. He keeps both sword and pistol ready, and assuming the two clear out, he'll reload the latter.
"And your money. We're not thieves." Zyrel adds after Aakif's speech.
Aakif wants to speak up, but decides to defer to the leader's judgement.
He motions to one door and says, ”There’s a storeroom there. Not much in it. There’s also a big ravine with some bridges across it. They don’t let us past it. Usually a few more guards there.”
He also motions to a section of the wall near the entrance stairs, ”S...sometimes Kurst says he hears things coming from there. He’s a crazy bastard, but I figured I’d tell what I know.”
Badhru motions with the tip of his sword toward the door from which he and his comrades entered. "OK, so thanks for that. Now, you can take your buddy and get on out of here, right? And as long as we don't think you talked to anybody about what happened here, we never have to see each other again. Dig?"
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"Thanks! Good luck in your new jobs!"
The guard looks at Kris with equal parts fear and bewilderment, ”I...what? I’m just...just gonna get out of here.”
With that, the guard lightly slaps his companion to wake him up before helping him to his feet. Kurst mumbles a few objections on the way out.
All seems quiet for the moment.
Kristleifur waves them goodbye then turns to the others.
"So? Are we waiting for this place to loot itself or something? Let's go!"
"Zyrel, sir? Should we continue the scouting tactic?"
Elsa claims the alchemist fire and the tanglefoot bag if no one objects.
the scouting tactic has worked well, but this now looks better lit, so we should close up the distance
She considers. Say a 30/40 foot gap. And only a pair of scouts
Zyrel blinks, and considers. "Pardon Aakif. We needed to stop him from leaving and getting reinforcements. I calculated that if I left to take Kurst, the one we were facing may try to exploit the weakness in our flank. Lacking time to explain - and with an explanation rendering the ruse useless - I issued an order in the expectation you would understand what I was doing." Zyrel looks around "I wasn't trying to take command. I understood Elsa and Badhru were in command."
Badhru chimes in. "Hey, you had a plan, all in service of the common goal, right? All's well tht ends well an' that sorta thing. But I think Elsa's right. Let's give this place a quick once-over, then when we proceed, as the lady said, keep it on a shorter leash."
"I'm good to stay up front. Just give the word when you're all ready!"
Kris now seems pretty relaxed about matters, and unconcerned with looting this room.
Ok, let's go. Loot to gain, baddies to trounce.
Aakif seems a little confused, but simply nods respectfully and lets Badhru take the lead.
"How about that tunnel to the southwest? I can go ahead a little!"
Kristleifur begins to move towards the southwest tunnel. Unless one of his companions disagree openly, he will starting sneak down it.
Badhru takes off after the energetic gnome.
Elsa follows, waving the others to follow, about 30 feet behind the scouts