Daidalos stands silently by the door, motioning with his fingers and mouthing the countdown, Three.... two..... one.... now. and quickly but silently opens the door to let his more violent companions the chance for a speedy kill.
Daidalos provides a countdown then swings open the door. Kneeling by the side of her bed is a brown-haired priestess. She looks up in surprise as her prayers are interrupted. Seeing the garb of the Watchtower's garrison on you, she doesn't immediately sense the danger she is in. "What is..." she starts to ask as you lunge in for the attack.
With his weapon drawn the anti-paladin readies to move in as soon as the door flies open. And just as soon as it is opened, Morthos charges in and brings his sword down upon the healer.
Following Mortos' example, Raevanis wastes no time and attacks the startled woman, wielding his longsword in both hands and striking at her with a straightforward enough slash, finding no need for exaggerated techniques.
Seeing his more violent allies have the situation well in hand, he turns to the northern door, listening to hear if there's any commotion.
Asturu stands next to Daidalos and watches the carnage unfold. "I suppose we all have different appetites ..." reflects the writer as the anti-paladin and brawler feast on the violence.
Ordwywt looks into the hallway, trying to tell if anyone else heard the noise.
Morthos moves into the room with murder in his heart. Sensing the goodness radiating from this woman, a font of hatred swells within him empowered by an infernal connection. One swipe of his blade opens her torso from shoulder to hip, another separates her head from her neck and sends it falling to the ground with a wet <thud>.
Seeing the woman fall in a heap, he uses a sheet from the bed to clean his blade. As he does he looks upon the woman's face, "Shame to fell one so lovely. If only there would've been time to convince her of her foolish ways it is possible she could've been a powerful ally," he says mostly to himself. Once his blade is clean he turns to the others, "Where to next?"
Daidalos cleans up the spilled blood magically, closing the door to hide the corpse, and moves to the door to the north. Knowing the room was empty, he carefully opens the door, but not caring too much about making noise. He motions for the rest of the 9th to take up position around the door, and once they are all ready, he knocks gently on the door, "Father? Are you awake?" he asks, as though he were nothing more than a guard seeking spiritual guidance. Before the priest opens the door, though, he prepares to attack the instant he gets a clear shot.
Moving to take his place on one side of the door, sword held firmly in both hands, Raven stands ready to attack the last of the clerics first chance he gets.
From the other side of the door, you hear someone jerk awake followed by, "Hmm? Yes? What? I... I am now, I suppose. What do you need, child?" The voice sounds vaguely confused, sleepy, but still kind and patient. On the other side, you hear someone beginning to move about, bare feet on stone, and the sounds of fabric rustling.
After a moment, the door opens revealing a slightly portly man with a bald pate. He wears a sapphire blue priest's frock with a holy symbol around his beck. The more observant of you may notice his feat are bare. You see no weapons. "Yes, wha..." He starts to ask how he can help as you move to snuff the light of his existence from the world.
Ordwyrt and Raven swing with their attacks, both connecting but Mitra's blessing seems to be with the priest. Though wounded, he is still up. Afyria lays a touch of corruption upon him with an unholy prayer, and with that the ruse is spent.
The priest gasps at the sudden assault on his holy personage but holds strong to his faith. "Treason! Help! HELP!"
He takes a careful step back as he holds aloft his holy symbol, "Mitra, shield me from these blasphemers!"
-------------------
The aristocratic writer figures his companions have the situation under control and, so, leaves the room. Once outside, he will pretend to knock on the priest's door if any soldiers come in to check out what's going on.
Daidalos focuses his mind, barely forcing it to break through the magic protecting the priest, and weaves another spell.
"I'm sorry father. This must be done, commander's orders." he says, "Enjoy the judgement of Mitra."
Ordywyt smiles. Better still he died cursing Mitra, renouncing his faith in his last breaths. Ah, but first was the mission.
Bringing down his mace, Ordywyt focuses to break the priest's magic.
Yet, the inquisitor's blow falters, and his arms reel away from the priest before they strike.
Morthos shakes his head at the foolish priest and moves past his comrades and into the room. "Fool. Your weak faith will do nothing to protect you from your demise." He then swings his sword down upon the priest.
The elf says nothing as he tries to advance on the priest in an attempt to finish the man. However, perhaps due to the cleric's holy power, perhaps due to his own corrupted nature or perhaps because of a combination of both factor, Raven is repelled, unable to strike at his foe.
Asturu: Cover
Daidalos: Acid Splash
Ordywt: Blocked by Spell
Morthos: Attack
Raven: Blocked by Spell
Timo: ?
Affyria: ?
Morthos and Daedalos press the attack while Asturu rushes out into the hall and closes the door behind him, planning to run interference should anyone hear the commotion. The others find themselves confounded in their efforts by the holy energy radiating from the priest.
Though wounded, Father Donnagin's faith holds firm as he lifts his holy symbol to summon another miracle but is thwarted in the effort by Morthos's blade.
Once again Raevanis tries to strike at the priest, once again he is thwarted by the man's protective spell.
Ordywyt's mind pierces the priest's enchantment, his will solidifying through his hand. His mace swings through the air, aiming for a viscous blow to the body.
Daidalos summons another orb of acid, making a mental note to learn more spells for directly attacking.
"Please be quiet, you blubbering waste of a man, we have a job to do," Affyria says as she swings her mace at the priest's head.
Morthos continues his assault upon the priest, yet, he can't help but find himself impressed with the man's resiliency.
Daedalos fires off another splash of acid while Morthos's blade draws a savage wound across the priest's chest. He starts to call forth for Mitra's blessing once again when Timo comes into the room and drives his nodachi through the Mitran's round belly.
Father Donnagin's mouth opens in surprise, then softens. A tear forms in one eye and, as he collapses to the ground when Timo and Morthos withdraw their blades, he half-whispers, "Damnation awaits you... Naught but... damnation." With that, his last gasp escapes his bloody lips and he falls to the ground. Dead.
Out in the hall, Asturu sees the door to the barracks open and two men come through. They are unarmored and half-naked, eyes blurry with sleep not quite shaken off. Swords are held in hands but lowered at their side. When they see Asturu-as-Guardsman, one of them asks, "Did you hear that? Sounded like the Father needs help."
Morthos looks upon the fallen man stoically, pondering his words a moment before kneeling and speaking to his lifeless face. "You know, you very well may be right, priest. But it appears we shall never know because you are dead. And for what it's worth, if you weren't such a fool, you had great potential to make a fine ally. Unfortunately... well... death and all that business now makes that moot." Cleaning his blade on the priest's clothing, he rises and prepares for unwanted company.
Daidalos, hearing the soldiers in the hall, studies the Father's face and copies it, going out into the hall disguised as the cleric after spending just a couple of seconds hiding the body and cleaning up the blood, "It's okay, children, it was nothing. Sleep well, though I thank you for your concern for me."
Ordywyt, seeing the hasty job done by Daidalos, looks around for a more hidden location to hide the body.
If he finds one, Ordywyt does his best to silently move it there.
With the father dead, Timo wipes his blade across the robes of the corpse, cleaning the blood off. As he hears the men approach, he gives a nod to Morthos before taking a position outside the door just in case Daidalos's ruse fails.
One of the guards, the one with a scar on his cheek, seems relieved to see the good father alive and well. He smiles and says, "Ah, Father. Good. Well, I'll be back to..." His voice trails off as the other guard, with a thick mustache, slowly puts a hand on the shoulder of his brother-in-arms to silence him. He eyes the Asturu-Guardsman suspiciously, then back to "Father Donnigan", and adopts a more cautious posture. You can almost see him becoming more awake as the seconds go by. "I'm glad to hear it, Father. Another one of your nightmares, eh? Was it the one with the spiders or the dogs?"
Father Daidalos looks confused for a moment, "Nightmares? Why would you think that- ah, never mind that. It was nothing so dramatic as a recurring nightmare- not sure where you got that idea- but it was a dream of fury and steel, an endless horde of monsters. It felt like an omen, but of what, I'm not sure. Just go back to sleep, my children. However, if you really want to do something, perhaps you could fetch Captain Barhold and ask him to come to my quarters? I could use his expertise. But it is no matter, I assure you."
Hearing the suspicion ooze off the guards checking in, Affyria quickly changes her guard uniform for nothing but a bedsheet, and stumbles out after "Father Donnigan".
"Donnie, come back to..." she says, before cutting herself off at the sight of the guards. She makes sure they get a good look at her nakedness before covering herself up with the sheet.
The guardsmen appear equal parts shocked and mortified. That Father Donnigan would... Mitra in Heaven!
They blush and avert their eyes, blubbering slightly, and the more suspicious of the two manages to stammer out, "I, uh, well... I'm glad you're okay, Father. I didn't, I mean, I know there isn't a vow of, well, uh, yes... Sorry to bother you. Come on, Geoffrey, let's get back to bed."
The two of them go back into the barracks, closing the door behind them.
Daidalos breathes an unseen sigh of relief as the guards return to sleep, and raises an eyebrow as he turns to Affyria, "You know, if you're trying to tell me something, there's less risky ways." he teases, "I was really worried that might backfire there for a minute."
"Now, put your clothes back on. We'll give Geoffrey and his friend a few minutes to get back to bed before we move on to the next" he checks his map, "So, shall we go to Captain Barhold next? We could go to the chapel, but I'm not sure we should risk 'those with evil in their hearts' being exposed. Ordywyt, Raven and Asturu might manage to escape any magical detection, but the rest of us will set off any spells in a heartbeat."
Guardsman Asturu tries hard, very hard, to ignore everything that's going on around him. Equal parts disgust and worry float about on his face while he stonewalls both the guards and the Father and his pet project, staring at the wall in front of him.
With the risk of being discovered abated, Timo relaxes his stance and joins the others. "We should eliminate Barhold, but what of the rookery? If they are able to send out word for help they may be able to bring reinforcements. Should we not eliminate their ability to communicate with the outside?"
"I agree with Timo, with these dead priests being discovered in the morning, our priority should be to cut off communications. The rookery should be our next target, and if possible we should attempt to take out their magister as well. I don't see any reason to visit the chapel for the time being," Affyria says as she adopts her magical disguise back to her guard's uniform.
Adressing Daidalos in particular, she adds with a small smile, "Also, you don't want to go there. The infernal taint is strong within me."
Affyria then goes back into the priest's quarters and gives it a once-over for valuables.