Alak wipes his blade down once more before sheathing it. "You use your weapon well," he says to Talina with a charming smile. "A match for any Hellknight."
Futin moves over to Villar and sets to it, wrapping up his wounds and cleaning them as best as possible. Alas, he doesn't seem to help too much...though at least he doesn't kill him.
Cicero retreats back into the edge of the room.
Villar remained unresponsive when Futin asked if he was alright and it didn't seem his efforts to treat Villar did much good either.
The armored corpse is still attached to the shell of the turtle-ish creature.
Villar felt the magic wash through him and bring him back from the brink. He groaned a bit as he got up and said, "I'll manage Futin, thanks." Villar let Futin try to tend to him but unfortunately it didn't do much good. "Thanks for trying anyway."
With the turtles dead Villar went to examine the impaled corpse.
Sheathing her blade Talina looked at the dead creature. Its hardened exterior gave her a thought. Reaching out she tapped on the shell.
Villar makes his way onto the creatures shell and finds the body of what appears to be a human that had been pierced on the spikes of the shell, almost like it was being put on display. Most of the belongings look like they've been destroy, but the chain shirt is still in good condition, and the tattered belt pouch still contains coins .
While Villar examines the trapped corpse, Talina has a closer look at the creatures.
She suddenly recalls hearing of these creatures in a passing story once. Graveshells, they were called. A semi-intelligent beast that and predator that lures it's prey in by displaying a former victim on it's shell as bait. Not very common above ground.
Examining the shell, it could be used as material for a shell, but it could be somewhat problematic. While the material is more resistant to damage than even a steel shield, it seems like it would be destroyed easily if it was hit with enough force.
Talina started thinking. What if....? A plan started formulating, but it would have to wait until they cleared this place.
Futin moves back outside and looks at the corpse with Villar. Wonder who this poor was...they probably had family. Anything that could identify them? Were it me, I sure wish someone would let my family know what happened to me.
He looks about the area. Anywhere else we need to check out here?
"There was a door I was checking when things went down. Let me check it again."
Moving back to the door, Talina carefully tried the handle.
Futin nods and moves to dutifully stand behind Talina as she tries the door.
Talina opens the door without any resistance. On the other side, the room seems like all the others would have been, before the walls crumbled. There is an old desk, which has been only partially destroyed, and various garbage and rubble strewn about the floor.
"Villar! Can you check out one of the other doors over there?" Talina called out while pointing to the other room with three doors to the west.
Villar considered the chain shirt on the man's body as he grabbed the pouch with coins in it. He ehard Talina call him over to check out the door and headed that way as he said, "We might want the chain shirt he had on," he gestured towards the still impaled body, "otherwise he only had a few coins. There wasn't anything else notable about him."
When he reached the door Villar began to examine for traps, checked the lock and, when everyone was ready, he opened the door and led them further in their explorations.
Futin grins at Villar as he stands near him. Alak, Talina, Cicero, over here! He then can't help but peek through the door that Villar had checked.
Villar once more checks the door and finds that it is clean of any hazards, but Futin gets his nose in there before he can open the door.
The young catfolk sorcerer slowly opens the door, looking to see what is on the other side, and is greeted by the snarling visage of a massive wolf!
The wolf jumps at Futin's face and tries to rip it off.
◆ Stride
◆
◆ Grab
Once bitten, he holds on tightly.
Initiative:
???
Cicero
Futin; -6 HP
Talina
Villar
Alak
Everyone is up!
Cicero runs up next to the group
Futin cries out in pain, and tries to wiggle out of the wolf's grip.
Hearing Futin's yelp in pain, she moved over and saw the wolf holding him. Getting next to the cat, the woman puncher her shield at the wolf's snout.
[Spoiler=if Futin doesn't escape]Futin slashes twice at the wolf.
Villar cursed when Futin stuck his nose through the open door and suddenly came under attack. The only good thing is the attacking wolf was rigth there. Villar drew his rapier and studied his target devising the place to strike and then followed through.
◆ interact (draw rapier)
◆ devise a strat
◆ strat strike
Futin wriggles around and manages to twist his way out of the canine's grip.
Talina, on the other hand, gets in there quickly and slices the wolf in retaliation.
Cicero runs to the fray, drawing his dagger to attempt to be of some help.
Villar also draws his weapon to help, but completely misses the timing in all the chaos.
Seeing that the entryway is currently clogged, Alak makes his way around to the south side of the room, drawing his sword as he moves.
◆ Stride
◆ Stride
◆ Draw Weapon
Having lost it's initial meal, the animal lunges at Talina instead.
◆
◆
◆ Grab
Initiative:
???; -6 HP
Cicero
Futin; -6 HP
Talina; -10; Grabbed
Villar
Alak
Futin simply moves back in and cries out in fear for Talina. No! He calls upon his angelic powers once again to hurl out his last healing spell upon her.
Special or additional client information (such as work environment):
Villar was not pleased with how readily this cursed dog was avoiding him and once more timed his attack before striking at the strategic moment and following up with a second stab of his rapier.
◆ devise strat
◆ strat strike
◆ strike
Futin's healing magic brought back the warriors focus.
Having her sword arm grasped in this beasts jaws, Talina attempted to break free.
Wrenching her arm free, the swordswoman drew her blade and thrust it at the wolf.
Unable to free herself, Talina punched at the wolf with her shield twice more.
Cicero tries to remember anything he can about this wolf before launching a rock into its maw
You hurl a loose, unattended object that is within range and that has 1 Bulk or less at the target. Make a spell attack against the target. If you hit, you deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage—as appropriate for the object you hurled—equal to 1d6 plus your spellcasting ability modifier. No specific traits or magic properties of the hurled item affect the attack or the damage.
Futin spends his last healing spell on Talina to keep her alive.
Villar gets his thoughts back on task and manage to score a direct hit with his weapon, his second attack is a little more wild and is easily avoided.
Talina easily pries open the wolf's jaws to allow her to escape. She draws her sword and scores a solid hit, dropping the creature.
End of combat!
Cicero is ready with a spell, but releases the energy harmlessly and instead studies the creature closer.
He realizes that this was no simple wolf, but a semi-intelligent beast known as a Warg. Oddly, these creatures don't tend to be found outside a pack, so why this one is alone is beyond him.
Alak, having just come through the south door, takes a moment to examine the body on the floor before he sheaths his weapon again. "You are competent combatants indeed," he tells the heroes. "Well done."
Futin comes over to stand near the others, his chest heaving from his frantic retreat and reentry. Not so bad yourself Alak! He notes that Alak is speaking more to Talina than himself, and lets out a small laugh. C'mon Futin, you barely avoided being lunch, and your friends had to save you...he didn't mean you.
So, umm...I don't have a lot left. If we're going to keep getting ourselves banged up, my magic won't be able to keep us alive much longer.
"Agreed, I am also running quite low on resources at the moment. though I do think we should try to press on a bit further. after all its already been nearly a day since we left town."
Futin nods, and looks past Talina into the room that had the warg. Wonder if he was maybe guarding some secret goodies.
Wiping the blood from her blade, Talina did not sheath her weapon this time. After assessing their relative strength she suggested, "I suggest we try and at least find the way down into the basement then head back to camp, so we can head straight down at full strength. We've spent two days here already and the more we delay the more time the cultists have to do whatever they're doing."
She fought to keep the visions of her dreams coming to mind.
Futin detects no magic in the area.
"Sounds fine to me" Cicero replies to Talina
Warbal welcomes you back to the camp with a smile and a bowl of stew.
A somewhat startled look of surprise comes over her face as she watches Alak walk into camp with you.
"It seems that we have a guest! And who is your friend?"
Talina answered, "This is Armiger Alak Stagram of the Order of the Nail."
Villar was relieved to see the wolf go down and that they all come through the fight relatively intact this time. He was also glad that everyone seemed in agreed to leave for now and return tomorrow after getting rested.
When they arrived back at the camp Villar remained fairly quiet and kept largely to himself as he seemed to do. He wasn't used to working with others and it showed at moments like this. He didn't even seem to feel a great need for others, though he'd been at least friendly when interacting with everyone. Only Alak seemed the exception as he still avoided the hellknight as much as he could. While the others filled Warbal in on Alak and what had happened so far Villar got out his rapier and worked on cleaning it as he contemplated what he had learned that day.
Warbal, you're the best. Futin sighs heavily as he takes a seat and a bowl. His feline nose working overtime as he takes it in. We've had a long day, to say the least. Turtles, wolves, imps...seems like everything was out to get us.
He takes a spoonful, and motions towards down. Any news from town?
Nodding and taking the bowl of stew Talina sat down at the same place she did before. As she ate her stew and thought about the day something about her shield technique struck her suddenly.
Finishing her stew she grabbed the training blades and shield then moved to Alak. "Armiger Stagram, would you mind helping me with something? I've got an idea of a different way to use my shield but I want to see if it works."
Handing him one of the blades they both slowly until it got to the point where she would block the incoming blow. Once she blocked it, Talina pushed Armiger Stagram back a short distance.
"Okay, that works. Now let's try at normal combat fervour."
At the introduction, Alak bows politely at the waste, if only with the slightest of hesitations at Warbal's appearance. "Well met, miss. Please, Alak will suffice. I am not here in any official capacity."
Warbal smiles at Alak's polite mannerisms and offers the knight a bowl of stew. "You are welcome in my camp, sir, though I am curious as to what a Hellknight, and only a trainee at that, is doing here in any capacity." She doesn't press him any further on it, for now, though.
When asked to spar, Alak finishes his stew with a sound of satisfaction and gladly accepts. "One would think that fighting monsters in the keep is more than enough practice for the day, but I relish the chance to see your swordwork up close."
While his movements are a little untested for a single-handed sword, he proves to be well trained and gives as good as he gets.
After about another fifteen minutes of practice to make sure that she could utilize her theory in multiple instances, Talina thanked the Hellknight for the assistance.
Taking back the wooden blade, she made her way to the Catfolk, "Are you ready for some more practice Futin?"
He takes a spoonful, and motions towards down. Any news from town?
Warbal shakes her head at Futin. "Breachill is as it usually is, fairly oblivious to the goings on outside it's walls. I don't really expect to hear much, but I will let you know if anything changes."