The Raven lifts the rope hanging diagonally from his left shoulder to his right hip off of his body and begins tying up the unconscious and sleeping mercenaries before their comrades return.. "Uhh, can we stop them bleeding? We are not murderers."
Jessibel curses under her breath--what a bad time for her mentor to listen to his conscience! She steps past the Raven and drops into a defensive crouch, all the while maintaining her bardic performance.
"Hurry! They may be killing the prisoners for all we know!"
Aisling utters a brief prayer, filling the room with a sense of goodness and duty for a brief moment and binding up wounds.
Vantine hurries after Jessibel.
The Raven swiftly binds the three guards together, making sure that none of them will easily be able to become aggressive again.
Vantine and Jessibel move into the hallway together, though Vantine doesn't notice much of note, other than the increasingly strong smell of salt.
Iomedae's light erupts from her priestess, filling the room with warmth and healing the rest of Nyxra's wounds - as well as those of the two injured women, who slowly rouse from their comatose state.
Leaving the unconscious mercenaries where they lay tied up, the Raven draws what constitutes a ranged weapon for him and pursues the the mercenary who fled.
A few moments after Aisling's healing spreads over them, one of the two women who the Raven had tied up shouts. "Kossrani! We have intruders!"
The other woman glances up at the Ravens, but keeps silent.
Vantine hisses in annoyance at the loudmouthed woman, but otherwise holds and waits for someone in armor to do something.
Jessibel keeps her inspirational song going, but she moves back to where she dropped the bundle of weapons to retrieve it.
Vantine's hiss just makes the woman's shouts louder. Meanwhile, Jessibel's voice fades slightly from the rest of the Ravens' ears as she moves back into the storage room. Through the open back door, she sees that the final mercenary, who had fled out of the building, is banging fruitlessly against the door of the other building - where the rest of the mercenaries are, presumably, asleep. Or at least, were asleep.
"Right. we need to find the prisners fast and get out of here." Asiling takes charge. she points at teh Raven. "You and Vanitne, move through there and check those rooms. Nyxra and I will check this room."
She moves past the elf into the room.
Nyxra follows Aisling in, her sword at the ready.
"As you wish, mighty Eagle." The Raven dutifully awaits his muse, as instructed.
While waiting for The Raven, Vantine notices The Raven has started waiting for her. She shrugs at him in an aggressively questioning way.
"What? What are we doing? Do something! I've been waiting for you to do something!"
She seems a little stressed out. The hollering woman probably isn't helping.
Aisling pushes through the door, and finds six women, each one with a badly scarred face that had once perhaps been beautiful. They are all sitting near the wall closest to the furnace, and one woman rises weakly from her place. An aasimar with sweat-streaked silver hair, an ugly X-shaped scar on her forehead, and two more jagged scars leading down from the edges of her mouth to her jawline, her face seems locked in a perpetual scowl.
That said, her limbs tremble slightly and there are dark circles under her eyes. "Who are you?" She asks, her voice raw. "Why are you here?" The other women struggle to their feet, but it is obvious that none of them are going to be able to fight - they're overworked, underfed, and generally unhale.
The Raven and Vantine banter inanely as Nyxra joins Aisling in the room with the six prisoners.
Meanwhile, the loud bound mercenary continues to struggle against her bonds. "Thrune's gonna get you all, you little s@+~s! They've got devils and the Dark Prince himself on their side!" Outside, the man continues to slam against the barracks' door, fruitlessly trying to open it.
"Who we are can wait. This is a rescue. Can you move?" Aisling calls on her godes for help, to heal the prisoners and show them she isn't with the Thrunes.
Her power is weak here, she' s breaking the law and Iomedae is barely with her. She calls to the tohers to let them know. "I've found them! Let's get out of here, now!"
Vantine abandons the useless Raven in favor of helping Aisling, telling the bird brain "just keep a watch for the rest of them coming so we have a little warning."
She encourages the prisoners to move quickly because there isn't much time, helping by pulling them up onto their feet.
"Let's go! Let's go! There isn't much time!"
Jessi gathers up the weapons bundle, cloaks, and boots and brings them all to Aisling and the prisoners. The pretty noblewoman's taken aback by the women's facial scars but tries to hide her reaction.
"I bring gifts!" she tells the women with a grin. "Cloaks, boot, and weapons!"
Vantine further encourages the women to hurry along by telling them there is a particular loudmouthed guard of theirs tied up in the main room, whom they are welcome to kick on their way out the back door.
"Oopsie! Forgot to mention it earlier--the guard who ran away curled around and is trying to open the lock to the barracks door. Nothing to worry about, I'm sure--the Raven's got 'em locked in good!"
"I do believe the last mercenary is out back." The Raven calls as he tries another unopened door, his birdlike curiosity demanding to know what lies behind it. "I think we shall leave through the front!"
Vantine rushes the women forwards, as Aisling reassures them of their good intentions. The women hesitate for a moment, looking at the aasimar who seems to be their leader. "Our armor. They'll have taken it and put it somewhere. We can't leave it behind."
The Raven carefully opens the door nearby and is immediately blasted with heat from the furnace - it is clearly the furnace room used to process the salt in the dome - and there's no sign anyone is in here at all.
Jessibel arrives to deliver weapons and boots to the women, who don the boots, but stay away from the weapons for the moment. The leader laughs, a harsh, hacking sound. "We're in no way ready to fight. Sorry."
Outside, the door cracks and falls, a voice thundering out. "Morons! Why didn't you wake me sooner!"
With a burst of effort, Aisling attempts to heal the Company of the Scarlet Rose, but... without much power, as though Iomedae isn't terribly pleased with her priestess. "We're not wounded, priestess." The aasimar says, her voice oddly gentle. "Just... too overworked. We won't be much use in a fight."
Vantine rushes the women forwards, as Aisling reassures them of their good intentions. The women hesitate for a moment, looking at the aasimar who seems to be their leader. "Our armor. They'll have taken it and put it somewhere. We can't leave it behind."
Aisling rolls her eyes. "Of course you can. If you can't fight, you're in no state to carry that much metal. Now move. Or stay here. Your choice."
"...excuse me."
Nyxra turns on her heel and heads back out to assist Jessibel and Vantine with subduing the new arrivals.
"You misunderstand, priestess. My sisters need their armor like you need your face." The aasimar's silver eyes harden. "I want to leave with you, believe me, but my sisters are scarred within as well as without and I'm not going to abandon them. If we don't take our armor, some of them won't come."
Nyxra moves into the storeroom area, preparing to fight the newcomers.
The night-guard rushes through the doorway, passing by Kossrani and preparing to engage in melee with the elf woman, though he doesn't quite have the capacity to do so just yet. A few other mercenaries exit the barracks - but even at this distance and in the dark, Nyxra's pretty sure they aren't armored, just wielding their bludgeons.
Vantine is becoming increasing upset, heading toward real aggravation. She had imagined a smooth as silk, in and out, very unmessy raid. Things were now all as opposite her ideal as possible.
She strides out into the main room and drops her Daze cantrip on Nyzea's opponent as she waits for the other mercenaries to come.
The Raven leaves his toasty discovery to flank Nyxra. "Gentlemen! I can assure you, this! Is a simple misunderstanding!"
Jessi drops all the gear she brought for the women and turns to join the battle. Drawing her sap as she moves, the bard also restarts her inspirational song for the final showdown.
Vantine conjures her simple spell once more, attacking the mercenary's mind. He staggers, his eyes going unfocused as he attempts to fight off the magic, but fails.
The Raven moves swiftly into the storage room once more, trying desperately to get into combat again. Finally, Jessibel resumes singing, infusing her partners' with the power of her voice.
Meanwhile, Kossrani charges forwards, swinging his mace at the Raven in a furious assault. The vigilante, caught off guard, finds that he can't keep the mace away from him as it cracks against his ribs and arms, sending searing pain spiraling across his body. "Who the Hell are you?"
"You misunderstand, priestess. My sisters need their armor like you need your face." The aasimar's silver eyes harden. "I want to leave with you, believe me, but my sisters are scarred within as well as without and I'm not going to abandon them. If we don't take our armor, some of them won't come."
Aisling's eyes are grey like flint as she stares the other woman down. "YOU misudnerstand. i'm not sure my goddess even wants me to be doing this, and from what I've heard about Korvoasa, if even a tenth of it is true, maybe you belong in prison. I am leaving. You can come with me, or not."
When Kossrani appears, she stares at him with loathing. "You enjoy hitting people, I'm gessing. Unless you want to find out what it's like when they hit back, DROP. THE. MACE."
Nyxra lunges at the newcomer who just cut the Raven.
The woman sighs, shaking her head as Aisling leaves the room.
As a true threat appears, Aisling draws on the power of Iomedae's authority, her voice thundering with power. Kossrani's eyes flash with brief recognition even as he cannot help but let the mace fall from his fingers.
Nyxra takes advantage of the distraction to slash neatly through the sole remaining armored mercenary's chest, knocking him off his feet and into a swiftly spreading puddle of his own blood.
"Damned outlaws! Get them!" One of the mercenaries cries from outside. The mercenary rushes around his leader, before swinging his mace at Jessibel - presumably thinking her an easy target. The young noblewoman proves him wrong easily, deflecting his blows with her rapier.
Another unarmored, mercenary runs in from the chilled outdoors, before swinging at the Raven with his mace. The Raven, still off-balance from Kossrani's attack, only manages to block a few blows before taking another in the gut. He's pretty sure he hears his spine creak alarmingly at the blow, though the bile rising sharply through his throat is distracting enough that he's not sure.
The remaining two mercenaries come up to flank and aid Kossrani in his battles against the Ravens.
Jessi dodges an attack, the rebellious teen in her secretly thrilled at being called a 'damned outlaw,' though she hopes that Aisling won't take that bit of name-calling too seriously and make a sermon to the Ravens after they've (hopefully) escaped. Figuring that Aisling's sword's likely to do more damage than her crappy sap, Jessibel sidesteps out of the battle briefly to safely cast a curing spell on the Raven to keep him in the fight, all the while maintaining her inspirational song.
Ignoring the ever strange feeling of bones being broken only to be knit cleanly back together by arcane magics immediately after, the Raven strikes out in anger against the mercenary that had attempted to hit
Jessibel. "What's wrong? Scared of a little bird?"
Vantine casts her second Sleep spell, positioning the center of its effect on the dwarf.
Vantine unleashes the sleeping spell on the mercenaries once more, focusing it on Kossrani. Immediately, the four mercenaries that remain standing collapse into sleeping piles of limbs. The dwarf himself is unaffected, but swears loudly when his companions fall.
The Raven takes the opportunity afforded to him by Kossrani's lack of a weapon to punch out, and easily knocks aside the dwarf's shield, landing a terrible blow directly on his nose with a horrible, bloody crack.
Jessibel sings out a song of healing, and touches the Raven, sealing his wounds and restoring the shattered bones.
Kossrani shakes himself, and delivers two quick kicks to the mercenaries closest to him. "Get up, you lazy little s$@&s!" As the two groan and slowly shake off their enchanted sleep, he backs away swiftly, keeping his shield between him and the Ravens before he makes his way out of the door.
Aisling focuses on Kosrani as she moves forward, ignoring the sleeping guards. "Tie tehm up with the others." She follows Kossrani utside, and points her sword straight at him. "Surrender. Nobody has to die today."
Nyxra leaves the guards for the others to subdue and moves to assist Aisling.
"Or don't. You'd make me especially happy." Nyxra adds, pointing her bloodstained blade at the man.
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Aisling and Nyxra move past the sleeping and prone guards and attempt to threaten Kossrani into submission. "Bah! The Dark Prince will smite you all, blasphemous rebels!"
Meanwhile, the two mercenaries that he kicked awake get back to their feet. Nyxra takes the chance to slash at the mercenary nearest to her, but he evades easily, his mace knocking her sword high enough that it soars over his head.
His friend shouts a command. "Tark! Get the others up!" With that, he steps forwards and smashes at Aisling with his mace. Fortunately, the priestess manages to get her shield up between her and the bludgeon, and the weapon bounces off of the metal with a clang!
Meanwhile, Tark kicks his sleeping friend , who snorts, shaking herself out of her sleep. With that out of the way, he strikes at the elven ranger, trying hard to keep her occupied. However, Nyxra skillfully evades the blows, using her sword to keep the most severe away, while just dodging the rest.
The woman rises to her feet, which the Raven takes advantage of immediately, directing a punch at her jaw. With a wet, meaty crack, he sends her staggering back, before she returns with a vicious series of strikes, before sweeping her leg to knock him to the floor. He easily sees through her meagre feint, and leaps over her leg with simple elegance.
Jessibel continues to inspire her allies. Seeing freshly-wounded prey (and thus someone she might be able to take out), the hooded bard closes on the female mercenary the Raven just belted and swings her sap at the woman's temple.
for
Vantine moves forward a little to keep up with the shifting melee. She tries to stop the guard menacing Nyxra and Aisling from behind.
"All we wanted was some salt!" The Raven shouts, slamming another armored fist into the woman's face, following the momentum of the punch through and shifting over a few paces to provide flanking for Nyxra.
Vantine invokes her spell, pulling forth the arcane energies needed to stun the mind of her unfortunate target. Shaking himself, Tark thrusts away her magical influence with a roar.
The Raven lashes out, his spiked fist stabbing deep into the woman's face. Any chance she might have had to respond to his witty repartee is cut short as she collapses onto the ground, blood flowing freely from her face.
Jessibel, meanwhile, steps forwards in an attempt to knock the mercenary named Tark out. She whips her blackjack deftly around his guard, slamming it into his temple, and he grunts again, staggering back. "Damned lawbreakers! The Church will see you punished!"
Kossrani, meanwhile, slips back to the barracks, reaching down and grabbing something. When he comes up, he holds a longbow of fine make. Drawing forth an arrow, he shoots it at Aisling. The Iomedaean priestess lifts her shield and catches the arrow without difficulty, feeling the satisfying thunk of the blow being deflected.
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Aisilng is now very, very cross. Nothing tonight has gone as it should adn she's nt even sure if she's doing the right thing anymore. But at least she's been trained for fighting. She dodges the arrow, adn charges at Korsrani, swinging her sword at him. "I warned you!"
It seems that Ioemdae might be with her after all.
Nyxra watches in awe as Aisling lays a holy smackdown on Kossrani before turning and striking at Tark. In accordance with the Raven's wishes, she swings the flat of her blade instead of its edge.
Asmodeans have a history of making poor decisions.
Aisling charges at Kossrani, her blade flashing in a lethal pattern as she cleaves deep into his cheek and down his jaw, rendering him incapable of speech other than a pained shriek, but his eyes gleam with loathing as he stumbles helplessly away from the priestess' vicious onslaught.
Nyxra, despite the inaccuracy of her swing, manages to catch Tark off guard, clapping him over the head with the flat of her sword and causing him to collapse in a heap.
The last conscious mercenary growls. "Dammit! Die!" He swings desperately at Nyxra with his bludgeon - but the elf moves sinuously out of the way, evading his blows with ease.
With that, he tries to escape from her, dodging agilely out of the way of her blade as he moves towards his still-sleeping friend. Despite his best efforts, she slashes him as he attempts his maneuver, cutting a neat, deep wound across his cheek. "F*~% you!"
Jessi keeps singing and swinging. After moving north and then closing on the last mercenary standing, the bard flashes out her sap with decent form!
for
Vantine moves closer to the door and tries to halt the remaining mercenary. She'd wanted minimal blood spilled, but things have gone past that now and he needs to be put down quickly.
"Come now, dear boy!" The Raven implores the last standing mercenary in the saltworks. He holds out a hand towards the lone man in a friendly gesture, but blood from the various faces of the various mercenaries drips from the spiked gauntlet. "Be reasonable! We are only here to do a little... shopping! Why don't you just settle down before the sharp talons of lady Falcon cut you down like your brethren? Is this post worth dying for?"