”Aye.” Dadna said, inwardly wondering at the foolishness of the human. Why charge Paladins to sleep at your abode when daemons were about? Did he not want the protection? ”Before it gets dark we should get her to safety.”
What he gave us is enough to stay for months at the rate he is asking... 1 gold here and there can't mean much to him. It must be the principle of the thing.
"Er, yes, we should get him back home."
"Let's push on."
The party continues on towards Anvenn's home. As the travel down one of the ruined streets, they move past some rubble and see a frightening scene. Four cultists of Baphomet have a young female pinned to the ground and are preparing to sacrifice her to Baphomet. Ian would recognize the girl anywhere, it is his sister.
Round 1
Party Up
Donnen immediately moves. He doesn't give time for anyone to think, or even breath; as he sees the cultists, he has only a single instinct.
Torag shall hammer your souls into shape! - he says, as he lets his muscles form into pure stone to strengthen his attacks.
Fley trots around behind the group. He's examining the extent of the destruction. 'Hmm.. We can rebuild, yes. The damage is catastrophic but people here are resiliant... I hope we can get Anvenn back safely.'
And alas, cultists to Baphomet. "Great. More of you guys? You know, you guys are on the wrong side of history."
Fley pulls out his bow () and shoot at the cultist, attempting to not hit the woman.
Seeing great similarities between this woman’s circumstance and what she had so recently gone through, Dadna strode forward. Wordlessly she spun her dorn-dergar, making it increase in speed until she suddenly let it fly out, impacting with a cultist’s thigh.
Donnen moves in and attacks, his giant sticker bounding off the cultists armor. Fley then puts an arrow intoone and Dadna moves forward and drops her.
Leothar advances, Radiance held high, targeting another (Orange).
Leothar connects with a solid blow to the cultist leaving him barely on his feet.
Ian moves up and slashes the cultist leaving two badly wounded cultists and one untouched.
Ardriel steps into sight and springs into action. Ian's sister? We'd better act quickly.
"Fall, demon worshipper!"
Ardriel fires an arrow at the one who was, thus far, unengaged.
But it shoots high.
The cultists maneuver in order to attack. Leothar is hit hit by one of the glaives and and Dadna takes a solid hit. The one swinging at Ian misses.
Round Two
Party Up
Having hit one cultist in the thigh, Dadna pulled the chain back and spun the mace-head around, causing it to spin backwards and around, hitting the cultist on the shoulder. The momentum coupled with the weight of the weapon was a deadly combination. To the untrained though, it was equally as dangerous to the wielder. Once more she thanked her tutors for all of the many hours spent drilling its use to the point where it was muscle memory.
Dadna hits the cultist again and she falls to the ground. Ian moves up and hits another cultist (red).
Leothar steps up and attacks his foe (Orange). The wound of the glaive stings, but it is not grave, and Leothar can keep fighting.
Leothar hits the cultist he attacks and drops it to the ground leaving one lone cultist standing.
Donnen does a sidestep towards northwest, and as he moves, he does a curved movement, forcing his immense weapon to thrust the last enemy from below. The attack doesn't come out too precise, despite its power.
Donnen moves in and lands the final blow on the cultists. With the cultists now all down Jennifer jumps up and runs to Ian and throws her arms around him "You came for me! You came for me! I knew you would come and save me!" Tears flow down her cheeks as she stands hugging Ian.
Fley smiles as Ian and his sister reunite. He quickly goes: "Are you okay?". As Jennifer and Ian talk and catch up, Fley will do a perimeter check. He'll try to see if there are any other cultists nearby, lurking in the shadows. 'Seems to be a lot of cultists around. Maybe we should be quieter. We could be attracting attention with our battles.'
Ardriel smiled as Ian and his sister reunited. Leaving them to their happy reunion, he began searching the cultists for information.
"Praise Torag we were in time," adds Leothar.
Haste is not the way of the Father of Creation, but I do think we must move quickly through this city. Who knows what other atrocities the cultists are engaged in?
He keeps an eye out for any other disturbances.
Glad yar' fine, lad! - says the Stonelord, before pointing his weapon towards the road - However, we might need tae' do the chit-chatting on our way. Let's keep'on moving, shall we?
As he completes, he gives a smile. With his weapon, he taps around and do a basic search on the cultists for anything useful, before taking point on the formation again with Leothar.
Dadna nodded, as she used the robes of a cultist to wipe the blood off of her weapon. ”He speaks truth. Longer we stay in the open, the more of a target we will be. The fact that cultists do this in the street is proof of how dire the situation is.”
Jennifer continues to hold Ian and says "I don't know what happened to mom and dad. I have been running all over town but haven't managed to get by the house. I've heard all sorts of things. I don't know what is true. The river is poisoned. Lord Hulrun was killed during the attack and the
demons have his body on display. Nerosyan’s been completely destroyed by the demons. The Mendevian army is heading to Kenabres to save us,
but who knows when they’ll get here?" When she finieshes speaking she lets go of Ian and composes herself. "Nice to meet you all! I am glad you are keeping Ian safe."
Nosing through the cultists belongings you find on each: a potion, two scrolls, a vial of water, mwk chain shirt, mwk glaive, dagger, spell component pouch and unholy symbol.
The party forms up and continues their walk to Anvenn's house. When they get there Anvenn has the group stop outside the house and calls out, "Irabeth! I'm home!" There is only silence. He looks worried and looks at the group.
"Let me slowly approach and see what's inside. Is Irabeth your wife?"
Fley, still feeling a bit sore from his battles earlier, isn't as quiet as he can be. He scoots up to a window and peers inside.
Anvenn nods to Fley with a worried look on his face.
Fley moves up and peers into the window but sees no one inside.
Fley peers into the window. Nothing strange looking. Tip-toeing back to the group, he mentions what he saw. "Didn't see anyone in there. No signs of a struggle either."
"Jennifer should come with us, and we can get her back to her home afterwards. I will not leave any of our families behind if I can help it."
---
Leothar is no ranger, but he does try to look on the ground for any tracks.
Donnen keeps his weapon in hands and advances towards the door. He isn't exactly sneaky, but tries the doorknob to see if it's unlocked. There is a sense of urgency to his actions, as if he's fearful of the worse.
”Seems to me that we just need to go inside. Anything in must have heard us by now, and would be in hiding.” She shortened the grip on her dorn-dergar and stated walking forward.
Leothar looks around in the street but it is hard to discern any tracks on the stones though a few footprints can been seen in the bits of dirt and in the street, nothing pointing at the house.
Dadna opens the door and sees nothing inside.
Walking a step past the doorway, Dadna opened her eyes to the divine to look for evil.
Fley walks in past Dadna. He whispers to her: "I'll check the other rooms."
Fley sneaks up to the lower room's door and listen to the door.
Dadna steps in a looks for evil and finds none. Fley slips past her and listens at the southern door and hears nothing.
Dadna moved over to the last door and opened it. So far everything seemed normal inside, but it was her duty to make sure that the home was actually safe.
Dadna opens the northern door and finds a small kitchen and pantry area.
Ardriel eyes the house, but stays near Anvenn. "I'll stay close, just in case there is something in there."
Leothar stays outside, but moves to flank the doorway.
We don't want to be getting in each other's ways, and there isn't that much space.
”One more door to check then.” She decided to see if she could detect evil in the pantry, lest small demons like imps be present. Then she went over to the door Fley was at. ”Cover me while I open this up. So far it all seems safe, but can’t be too careful.”
Dadna didn't detect any evil in the pantry and moves to the last door and opens it. Inside is a small bedroom. Nothing unusual is seen in here.
”Checked best I could. Place seems empty!” Dadna called out.
Ardriel says to Anvenn, "It sounds like no one's there. Is there somewhere your wife would have gone? If there isn't a place you can think of, would she have left a note for you?"
Leothar thinks back to what he knows about Anvenn's wife.
Ian manages to calm Anvenn down, and he apologizes by saying "I'm sorry. This place made me think of my wife. She's a paladin of Iodamae. I'm a bit worried about what happened to her."
"She's a paladin of Iomedae. She would not have remained at home waiting for her husband to come back - though I am sure she prays for your safety - but rather would be out on the front lines fighting the demons and trying to help the people of Kenabres. We will find her in the thick of combat, I expect."