Still vexed at his previous near miss, and clearly very annoyed at Nechtan's treatment at the hands of the Verbeer, Ddraig advanced again and swung his sword at V2 ...
Then, as a minor action, Ddraig used Lay On Hands for Nechtan, allowing him to regain one healing surge's worth of hit points without expending a surge.
As the dragonborn surges into combat, he and his foe dodge and parry in a dazzling display of dextrous dynamism.
Seeing the female Verbeeg run behind the shack, and not wanting to envelope his allies in coruscating flames, Greylan will delay until he sees V5 again, letting out another magic missile.
Seeing the female Verbeeg run behind the shack, and not wanting to envelope his allies in coruscating flames, Greylan will delay until he sees V5 again, letting out another magic missile.
Ynyr moves to Q9 in an attempt to aid the destruction of V2.
He throws his treasured dagger (Magic Weapon)...
Roll against verbeeg. (1d20+9=14, 1d4+4=7)
"Now wouldn't it be a good thing if I could learn the trick of this knife, don't you think?"
Ignoring his wounds, the Krutne moves to flank the verbeeg next to him, and harries it with sharpeneed steel.
He then shakes his head to clear the cobwebs.
The verbeeg grimaces and gurns in pain and attacks Nechtan right back! In terror it attempts to retreat, and is killed by Darvyl as it does so. The other verbeeg appears in a fury, slashing at Nechtan wildly.
Darvyl, grinning madly, starts to circle the remaining verbeeg and attacks with both weapons, drawing blood.
Darvyl strikes viciously at the remaining woman.
"Begging pardon Nechtan, needs thee out of way." Healaugh invokes his Virtue of Cunning and shifts the ranger to T7.
"Reet. Had me fill of your goings on Miss." Raising his voice in unmelodious song, Healaugh uses the power of vibrations to force the Verbeeg woman to stumble and run towards Darvyl.
Much to Ddraig's pleasure, the sole remaining Verbeer came to him!
Unfortunately, the Verbeer was clearly stunned from Healaugh's attack, and stumbled just as Ddraig swung his sword.
However, Ddraig compensated for that as he swung again, and was rewarded with the satisfying feel of his sword hitting home. He roared in triumph as the Verbeer staggered again, this time under the impact of his sword.
Aided by Healaugh's magic, the remaining verbeeg almost impales herself on Ddraig's blade.
She collapses to the ground, dead. All that is left now is the sound of the surf in the distance and your own ragged breathing. Still no birds call.
Ddraig lifted his head and scanned the area for other threats. Seeing none, he bent down and ripped a strip of cloth from the clothing of the nearest Verbeer and wiped the blade of his sword clean.
Slowly, almost reverentially, he removed an oil-soaked cloth from his pack and gently oiled the blade, murmuring a prayer of dedication and thanks to Breasal, and a prayer for the souls of the dead.
Having finished his ritual, he surveyed the faces of his comrades. "Now we search the settlement" he intoned.
"Not so fast Ddraig lad. What happened to owd sod that flew off? Seemingly he were in charge of this lot. Best be finding him before he does more harm. And our Nechtan's in bad way. Could be using a nice sing song to cheer hisself up."
Healaugh unslings his instrument, clears his throat and sings. The strains of "Early one morning" resound through the village. Surely if anyone yet lives, they will hear the cheering noise and investigate.
Nechtan looks around wildly, but he finds no more targets. Eventually his breathing slows, and he is lulled by the sound of the hurdy-gurdy.
"They're such...bestial creatures. With the lumbering, and the groaning, and not to mention the smell. It's fascinating that any of them could ever manifest the strength of will to up and fly like that. He probably can't make it that far. Did any of you get a good look at him? Which way was he headed? I'd make that our next destination."
"Old bugger flew over t'wall. And reckon you're right about tracking him down. Should be seeing if anyone's left in village as well."
The halfling stows his instrument and heads towards the boxes the Verbeeg were plundering.
"Just have a look see here first. Wonder what they were raiding?"
Healaugh finds that the boxes contain the usual foodstuffs and supplies for a small community. Nothing to interest the seasoned adventurer.
Healaugh finds that the boxes contain the usual foodstuffs and supplies for a small community. Nothing to interest the seasoned adventurer.
Nechtan checks to see if any of this food is still good.
Then he grunts, "Check otherr brrochs."
"Aye, stock up Nechtan, no saying we're we'll fetch up."
Healaugh turns his attention to the nearest dwelling.
Nechtan ferrets around and comes up with cheese, dried meat, and other suchlike fare. Healaugh checks in the nearest dwelling and finds matters much like the other buildings the group looked at; no-one home and seemingly things left half-way done and unfinished.
"Greylan, canst sense awt? Likely magic's at work here."
"Magic? Perhaps. Brute force, more likely. These things could've just picked up the villagers and be done with it. Does it look like there was a sign of struggle, or that everyone just decided to go on vacation spontaneously? I'll try to sense if any magic was used, you all try to find out what you can. Should we inspect the beach further?"
Nechtan helps himself to a wedge of cheese, and looks about for any tracks which may indicate where the villagers went.
Unfortunately, he is very distracted by the cheese.
"The tracks of many feet lead away to the north from the gate area." - i.e. out of town.
"Now where did we see that smoke coming from? Was that in here or in somewhere else?"
Ynyr looks around for the source of the smoke.
Ynyr finds a hut, and investigating finds the remnants of a fire. The hut is as abandoned as the rest of the village.
"North?" Nechtan asks, seconds before trotting off in that direction.
Healaugh scratches his head. "Let's be a bit methodical about this. Check all houses. Can't but think there's something a bit more wrong here than we're seeing."
Nechtan sighs and waits for the bard to finish.
Darvyl proceeds to housebreak.
As the group search around town, the sun is setting, and night is coming. There seem to be no signs of violence, it does indeed seem that people just left what they were doing.
However, Darvyl finds one building of particular interest...
"Now what is it that you have found Darvyl?"
Soft whimpering can be heard from the lightly fortified stone building Darvyl is standing outside. This must be the local constable's office. The door to the building is open, even though the windows are secured with iron bars.
Evening has come.
Darvyl enters.
Healaugh follows, alert to the new sound.
Ddraig makes his way to the constable's office, but remains outside, alert to any further danger.
Darvyl and Healaugh enter to the sound of someone moaning pitifully and screaming incoherently. You can just about make out the slumped form of a man in the jail cell.