Crystal's punch connects squarely with the scraggly tough's jaw with a *CRACK* and a shock of force that runs up her arm. Her follow-up punch is ruined by a sudden, inaccurate burst of water from River, throwing off her aim.
Blaze continues to mess with the guy's mind. When your future was uncertain, you tended to stumble!
Gale gives Crystal guidance again!
Blaze's spell takes hold of the poor man again, causing him to wobble back and worth while making incoherent whines of pain. It's a simple matter after that for Crystal to snap a couple of punches into his temple to bring him down.
"Enough!" The Pauper's voice yells from down the hallway. "Whatever you're here for, I'm sure we can work out some kind of deal!"
"He's stalling. We can't let him get away!" Blaze says, then starts heading down the hall.
River races down the corridor without bothering to say anything.
"Thanks for the help Gale. I appreciate it." Crystal says quietly to the woman before rushing off behind the boys.
The small, octagonal room beyond the door has open beams, unfinished walls, and raw floorboards. The room is quite drafty, with scatterings of rat droppings about the corners. Set into the studs of the west wall a crudely spaced ladder leads up to the belfry.
Blaze throws open the door the Pauper retreated through--
--and as soon as he does, the hulking, green-skinned half-orc behind the door throws a black scorpion right at his head! The poor arachnid sails through the air and hits him right in the face, its pincers locking on and holding on for dear life!
Unfortunately, there were times when Blaze's foresight just conveniently shut itself off, as if it liked to mess with him on purpose.
Fortunately, Blaze wasn't by himself!
Seeing his habitat threatened by the sudden invasion of a predator, Sertse rises himself on Blaze's shoulder to his full, majestic length of about seven inches! He screeches in the most adoringly intimidating way possible and attempts to kick the scorpion straight from his master/ his slave's face with his taloned leg!
Whether or not he breaks free, he then walks back towards the back of the group. "The things I do for my friends..." he says with a grin trying to act all cool about it.
Sertse throws the offending scorpion off as Blaze retreats!
The Pauper snickers for a moment before pulling out a potion and drinking it!
"What in the hell...?! Crystal exclaims before rushing forwards to the pauper.
Crystal's punch goes completely wild.
The half-orc in the room with him doubles over laughing when Blaze hurries out of the room after throwing the scorpion off of him.
River slips into the room, wary of any more flying scorpions and unleashes another water balloon at the pauper!
Gale steps into the spot River vacated and throws lightning around, not hitting her foe.
Neither rain nor lightning find their mark, but the errant lightning bolt in particular arcs above the Pauper's head, striking the dangling church bell overhead with a loud *BONG!*
Blaze, not one to hold much of a grudge against the orc - fair was fair, and that was QUITE an amazing scorpion throw! - sees an opportunity in the immediate future!
"Cover your ears!" he shouts, then slams his foot down on the ground!
What results is a shockwave that reverbs towards the pauper, attempting to knock him flat on his ass!
...He does his best to ignore the no doubt resulting cacophany of noise resulting from using a quake-like spell in the church's bell room.
The Pauper indeed ends up knocked down--and the rest of the room shakes violently as well. The church bell makes several *BONGBONGBONGS* in a crazed cacophony, and parts of the room's wooden floor start to splinter and give way.
The Pauper scrambles back to his feet and stabs at Crystal!
His knife manages to drive into Crystal's ribs!
"Argh." Crystal yells, blood spurting from her wound as he extract the knife.
She redoubles her efforts and tries to pummel him before he gets her.
Crystal's strikes encounter some resistance this time, nailing the Pauper in the stomach and nose with satisfying, meaty *THUDS.* The Pauper lets out a pair of undignified yelps as Crystal's blows land.
The half-orc brings a vicious-looking morningstar to bear and swings it!
It arcs towards Crystal's head--and the barrier Blaze conjured for her flares up, intercepting the blow and deflecting it harmlessly to the floor!
Gale tries to zap the half orc but misses!
The twins keep doing what they do - missing together!
More lightning and water flood into the room, this time managing to splinter some of the decaying wooden walls around the melee.
"Sh*t! River, the Bell's about to fall! Cover me!"
Making use of the orc being temporarily occupied fighting Crystal and missing, Blaze slips around River's back and does his very best to stall the disentangling rope!
By a stroke of insane luck, the same vision that showed him the Bell crashing and undoubtedly doing massive damage to the church *also* showed him how to tie a knot!
The church bell lets out another loud peal as its rope starts to finally come undone--but it's stopped just in the nick of time by Blaze! The rope goes incredibly taut with the strain of keeping the bell up, but it's holding!
The Pauper doubles over in pain and fear and starts to cower in fear of Crystal. "Badeye, stop dithering about and take her down already!" He moans, stepping away from her and waving his dagger at her to ward her off.
Crystal, not one to hold back, hits again at the woman to try and knock her unconscious.
Crystal's first punch forces the Pauper against the wall--and the follow-up connects squarely with his chin, causing him to go stiff and topple sideways to the floor.
The half-orc swings his morningstar--
--and this time Blaze's conjured barrier isn't enough. The morningstar connects with the back of Crystal's head, dropping her to the floor.
”No!” Gale shouts, shooting the last of her lightning at the half-orc.
Akukho, likewise, hurls water at the orc - not to much effect.
Gale's lightning arcs past the half-orc's head without touching him. River's water blast follows suit.
Blaze casts Daze on the orc!
...It's effectiveness remains to be seen!
The half-orc's eyes glaze over for a moment before he blinks and tilts his head at Blaze. Whatever he was trying to do appears to have failed.
He snorts in derision and lumbers over to his boss' body, picking him up and preparing to walk out the door.
River would have better luck kissing the guy it seems, but he does at least block the door.
"Put him down. We've got no quarrel with you but there's one of you and three of us. Leave your boss and you can go." He offers.
Gale readies to shock the man if he doesnt listen to her brother.
Crystal's chest still rises and falls steadily as she is slumped on the floor.
"You know your boss just had a crew torch a place full of innocent people, right? If not us, lots of others will come for him. Is he really worth risking your life for, over and over?" Blaze asks the orc, backing up River as he casts a worried glance at the pronce form of Crystal. "Why don't we make a deal. We give you some gold and you walk away. Your boss in uncoscious, so he won't ever know what happened."
The half-orc stops in his tracks, listening to Blaze's offer.
"...that wasn't what Angvar was sayin'. Said it was an accident." He scratches his head.
"How much you offerin'?" He asks, his voice low and his grip on his boss' unconscious body starting to loosen.
Blaze looks at his money bundle and visibly takes out what has to be most, if not all of it. "Twenty gold. It's pretty much all I have. Gotta eat."
He looks the orc up and down for a moment. "Or, if you'd prefer, I could do a good word in with Saul vankeskerkin for you. It's his casino that got burned, and he'll probably want to invest in added security. He can probably provide you with decent work."
With the fighting stopped for now, Gale moves to Crystal's side and uses the wand to heal her.
"Easy now," she says as the oread regains consciousness. "You took a nasty blow. Are you alright?"
River, who has, a lot more money, stays quiet to let Blaze handle the negotiations!
Crystal goes to sit up, but thinks better of it when a sharp stabbing pain rushes through her ribs. "I...Gale. Thankyou. I wasn't expecting that I suppose. I think I might've broken something." She says, going to move again, this time feeling a bit better.
"Or maybe not, you've done a good job of stitching me up. I owe you Gale." Crystal says with sincerity, looking up at the sky druid with her pink and purple toned eyes.
"It was my pleasure. Don't mention it," Gale says with a wistful smile as she looks into Crystal's eyes.
The half-orc ponders Blaze's offer for a moment before nodding.
"Beltias kept sayin' gold would be comin' my way." He roughly drops the Pauper on the floor, causing him to moan pitiably. "Is Mr. Saul's gold good?"
"Gold in your pocket is better than any amount of gold promised, right?" River adds. "How about you and I go downstairs and talk to the Father, then the others can come and meet us in a few minutes."
As the two walk downstairs River's voice floats back up. "So? Feel like a game of dice?"
The half-orc shrugs. "Why not, eh? Prolly' gotta apologize ta the folks downstairs for the racket, anyhow."
"Oh, by the way, name's Reg. Reg Rumblefist."
"So? Feel like a game of dice?"
"Dunno if that's a good idea. Mum told me gamblin' does bad things to people."
"So? Feel like a game of dice?""Dunno if that's a good idea. Mum told me gamblin' does bad things to people."
"Your mother was a wise woman." River replies with an easy smile. "So, this is the good Father."
"Well, here's the gold I promised, at least. I've known Saul to be a man of his word. Worked for him for a while now." Blaze hands Reg the fist full of gold. "Say, Reg, before you go visit the father, do you happen to know where Angvar is? He's the one who set fire to the gambling hall. I'm sure Saul will be pleased if you could point us to him, too."
Crystal leaves the investigating to the men, stands up and brushes herself off, meanwhile grimacing at the state of her clothes.
Reg takes Blaze's offered gold before following River downstairs.
-------------------
Your return downstairs is met with by wide, shocked eyes of both Father Padrik and his assistant Jonas. The old priest nervously eyes Reg before speaking to you.
"So, um... I take it Beltias is no longer a problem?"
-------------------
The Splithog Pauper lies in a crumpled heap in front of you, still alive.
He was carrying the following items:
--1 potion of viscous grey fluid; closer inspection reveals it to be a potion of spider climb
--3 thunderstones
--His strangely-sharp dagger, which upon closer inspection is revealed to be a +1 dagger
--1 set of masterwork thieves' tools kept in his belt.