Vorak loads and moves, getting ready to put this man down. As he does, Flenser dives in to attack, but can't seem to get through the man's thick skin.
Noala takes two more shots at Hallod, trying to hit through his intervening cover. She hits, once, lodging an arrow into the big man's arm.
Tolgy fires his little crossbow, then reloads and fires again.
Kuntaxl falls upon Hallod in fury, but can't seem to score a hit on the big man. Nuktik, however, does, and the poison from his gauntlet works its way into Hallod's blood. The big man doesn't seem to be affected by this, however.
Jace frowns seeing his allies struggle to take the foul human down.
Cayden says, don't give up /
it's a little complicated /
Hit him hard, show no love /
Don't keep Pharasma waiting /
Jace spies his fallen fiddle bow and decides a little poetic justice might be just the ticket. He casts telekinetic projectile and tries to smack Hallod across the face with it.
Jace's ray of frost flies out, but crackles into the ground as he overcompensates ever so slightly due to the proximity of his friends to the fight.
Hallod snarls and steps to the side, putting his back to the water and the wall. He roars and leans in to Nuktik, attempting to shove him back!
He snarls out a laugh and pushes again! But Nuktik holds steady, though his heels touch up against the trip wire behind him.
Moving around the foe, Nuktik snarls. "Not going to make it that easy for you punk!"
for
for
Resetting himself an hoping to better find the seams on the villian's armor, Kuntaxl performs another flurry of attacks.
”Sic ‘im Flens!!!”
Aurumvorak cheers Flenser on, then finishing his reload, aims at Hallod and shoots.
Flenser snarls and following Hallod, bites...
Vorak tries to thread the needle, but just narrowly misses with his crossbow. Flenser moves around Kuntaxl and attacks, but misses the big man as well.
Noala moves around behind a stack of barrels and fires once, then ducks down behind them, taking cover.
Tolgy reloads and fires, then reloads again. He looks down at his crossbow in amazement as he scores a hit!
Kuntaxl moves in and lands two staggering blows on Hallod, biting out a chunk of the man's shoulder and then swiping across to cut deeply into his chest. Still, somehow, the man stands!
Hallod, seeing Nuktik moving around behind him, slashes out with his Kukri.
"Hey!" Jace shouts suddenly. "You leave Mr. Nuktik alone! You wanna pick on someone ... pick on someone your own size. Like Mr. Kuntaxl there!"
Jace then continues his song.
They say it's all been done but they haven't seen the best of me, me, me /
If we wanna leave this town then we gotta solve this mystery, -y, -y
Have to have high, high hopes for a living /
Shooting up the bad guy, c'mon let's make a killing /
Didn't have a copper but we always had a vision /
Always have high, high hopes
Remaining two actions will be another ray of frost attempt.
Shaking his head back and forth, Kuntxl sprays Hallod with his own blood. "Fool! Can't you see the outcome?! Surrender and face justice. Would you rather die?!"
Kuntxl does not wait for a response but keeps up his assault.
Hallod roars in anger and attacks Kuntaxl wildly, first with his Kukri and second with his fist.
Smiling viciously, Nuktik announces "In his defense 'Justice' is death."
With a flurry of wild swings, Nuktik is sure he gives the man reason to consider his actions...
for
for
for
Vorak realises finally that Hallod is a) surrounded, and b) getting a beat down so sniping isn’t completely necessary. He urges Flenser on, drops his crossbow and advances on the criminal - bringing forth his longspear for good measure...
The wolf does what he does best:
Noala and Tolgy fire again!
A lone arrow flies in to hit Hallod as the other missiles fly wide. The big man snarls in Kuntaxl's face and dodges the ensuing strikes, somehow still standing amidst the chaos of attacks!
Jace frowns at people being unable to take the horrible Hallod down. He repeats his last song phrase, hoping they take the hint!
Have to have high, high hopes for a living /
Shooting up the bad guy, c'mon let's make a killing /
Didn't have a copper but we always had a vision /
Always have high, high hopes
With his remaining two actions, Jace casts soothe on Kuntaxl, who is exactly 30' away.
Hallod turns and tries his one-two trick again, this time on Nuktik.
Hallod then buggers off to the east, rushing towards what looks like an opening to the side of the pond through which he can escape.
"Well bugger it all...."
*THUMP*
Opening his eyes again, "JERK!"
for
Not willing to let the warrior escape, Kuntaxl gives chase, following up with a bite and raising his shield.
Aurumvorak blinks, unwilling to believe the surrounded individual seems to now be...escaping.
”Git ‘im!!!” he yells to Flenser, then reloads his crossbow.
Flenser sets off after Hallod, yipping and nipping...
Flenser's animal nature and innate knowledge of hunting spur the wolf into action. He darts forward and clamps his jaws down on the running man's hamstring, dropping him to the ground! Hallod's eyes roll back in his head and falls unconscious as he begins to bleed out.
Jace runs over and looked down at the dastardly man who tried to kill him.
Kneeling down, he says in a higher-pitched voice, "Who's a good wuff?! Flenser, you are! That's right!"
Flenser bites Hallod a few more times, though more to make sure he doesn’t get up than to actually rip or tear. Half-standing on the prey-prize Flenser puffs up, wagging his tail and smiling at Jace. Then, when Aurumvorak arrives he steps off and goes back to sentry/alwrt mode.
Puffing hard, ‘Vorak arrives.
”Everybody alright? Good boy Flens, he’s down.”
Licking his teeth clean, Kuntxl begins looking around for more evidence.
"We should get him back to town alive, if we can. Tolgy, can you stop the bleeding?"
"Do we have to get him back alive?" inquires Nuktik. "They'll just execute him for what he's done anyway. AND if he can't answer their questions, he can't weasel out of the justice he deserves. The Sheriff did put us in charge of this."
"We are agents of the law, not vigilantes. If he dies, so be it, but we should make an effort to keep him alive for the magistrate."
"I don't care if he's alive or dead, personally. But that could be because he nearly killed me.
However, his being alive has a very slight chance to help exonerate us. I don't know if his death does that," Jace says, thinking hard.
Aurumvorak becomes instantly tense.
”Exonerate...us? I...we...have done nothing wrong. Or illegal.”
The hobgoblin scout looks from one ally to the next.
”Have we?”
Tolgy looks back and forth as if watching opposing teams in a sporting match, or maybe onrushing jousters. He finally shrugs, and begins to tend to Hallod, muttering under his breath. Heal him, kill him, heal him....guess I'll just heal him and then they can kill him if they want...can't go back the other way though.
After a bit of time, Tolgy is able to patch Hallod up, at least to the point at which he won't bleed out.
A quick, but thorough search from Kuntaxl finds the following on Hallod:
Heavy Crossbow
7 bolts
Kukri
Leather armor
2 different potions
A key
A note written on a scrap of parchment - folded up in his pocket
The final shipment of corpse blood is due in just over a week and it is the last thing I need from that greedy bastard, Bort. I've enclosed a parting gift for him that should ensure he never tells anyone of our dealings. Be sure that he gets it my darling.
Drop off the reagents as soon as they arrive. My work is almost done. You will find your usual reward in the stump.
-V
Kuntaxl holds up the note in triumph. "Proof, at last!" He hands the note over to the others to read.
"I suppose that lazy sheriff will ask us to track down this 'V', though I am disinclined to acquiesce to his request without some type of proper remuneration. Perhaps someone should negotiate with him if it comes to that."
Hoisting the man over his shoulder, he looks to their new druid friend. "First, however, we have an agreement to fulfill, one that we will likely find is intertwined.
Does anyone know what 'corpse blood' might be? I assume the obvious answer is not correct."
"Great...so we have stumbled into an indentured servitude to this hamlet then?"
With a loud groan, he pulls his weather tome from his pack. Thumbing through it's pages, he offers a wry smile. "There's a few things in here that could help encourage the sheriff to pay..."
Aurumvorak becomes instantly tense.
”Exonerate...us? I...we...have done nothing wrong. Or illegal.”
The hobgoblin scout looks from one ally to the next.
”Have we?”
"Of the murder of Mr. Bort, my good druid. Remember, we are still accused of that."
Does Jace know what corpse blood is? Maybe. Jace has heard a little of everything.
Dubious Knowledge kicks in if he fails his Recall check: he receives a piece of wrong and a piece of right information; otherwise, he succeeds and gets only correct information.
Jace has heard of this; it's a foul-smelling reagent, though he thinks its only used in antidotes.
Nuktik can agree with Jace, but can add little else. Noala watches as you look over the cache and the letter. I'm sorry I couldn't help more, my han-
Well, I was a better archer in a past life. You didn't seem to need it though, well done. Do you have any idea who this "V" could be...do you know him...or her more likely, based upon the writing.
"I don't think so. A woman who would willingly sleep with the odious - quite literally - Hallod?" Jace shakes his head. "I know no women so self-destructively unintelligent and abjectly devoid of sanity."
He smiles suddenly. "You've already helped us! And you are fine company."
"I do not recall anyone with a 'V' name. Perhaps the mayor might have an idea." Certainly more likely than the Sheriff