With Ivy, Aelwulf, and Hjallmar standing guard at the center hatch, the others move to the far hatch. Bladud opens the hatch for Razmir to peek down to see if anyone is in the far room.
Razmir sends a glob of acid at a guard before Grumblejack goes down the ladder followed by Bladud.
The group goes to the hatch on the other end and does the same thing.
Grumblejack is still currently on the roof heading back to you.
Razmir's group makes it to the far trapdoor while the others guard the middle.
As they get there, the trapdoor at the other end of the room opens and 2 guards climb up.
Ivy steps forward and Misfortune's the closest guard
Sophia will wave her hands and chant, a missile of force flying from her fingertips towards the lower of the two guards.
With Grumblejack not back from the roof yet, Razmir decides not to spread the group out too much. He tries to direct the eagle towards the guards on the other end of the room, then moves towards the rest of the group in the middle himself.
Grumblejack finally appears at the top of the ladder and climbs back down ready to kill more guards.
You chose the wrong side to investigate first, but quickly reposition. Hjallmar and Aelwulf charge the guards with Bladud running the length of the room to be by their side.
A magic missile and a heavy hit from Aelwulf wounds one of the guards.
They keep their footing and strike back, as well as 2 more guards climbing up behind them.
Ivy Cackles and Misfortune's yet another guard.
Sophia limps forward and hides behind her companion. Once there, she casts a spell, flinging a gob of green goo at the nearby guard.
The eagle swoops to Aelwulf's side and attacks the guard.
Razmir continues to move forward but doesn't think he can get a glob of acid over his companions.
Brumblejack charges forward and swings with his greatclub and takes down one of the guards at the back.
The two guards at the front take wounds but don't go down yet and strike back again but well timed attacks somehow miss unexpectedly.
Then the full strategy of Blackerly is revealed as 2 guards climb up the now unguarded center hatch and one at the far hatch behind Sophia.
"There shouldn't be too many after this!" Sophia shouts. "They're just like the countless other guards dying for their corrupt leader!"
Sophia will cast Murderous Command on one of the guards between her and Razmir (whoever Ivy doesn't Misfortune) and move south west.
Razmir moves away from the guards coming up the middle hatch, placing himself between the two hatches. Raising his holy symbol, he calls upon Asmodeus to strike at the guards and heal his companions.
Grumblejack now swings for the other guard at the back and roars as the thud of his greatclub is also heard.
Ivy continues to Cackle and Misfortune any guards not currently under her hexes.
Sophia turns one of the guards against his own ally.
A wave of Evil from Razmir washes over the guards, sickening many of them.
This time the guard resists Ivy's hex, though the others continue to be affected by her cackle.
Bladud and the others take out two of the three remaining guards. The last, very wounded guard, jumps back down to get away.
One of the guards in the middle goes after Ivy, then his ally attacks him instead of her.
The furthest guard uses his bow against Sophia but the arrow is too high.
Another guard climbs up the middle hatch, accompanied by Blackerly himself. "Box them in men!" He says. "We've got them now!"
Ivy attempts to re-hex the same guard she attempted Misfortune on previously (Accursed Hex), while still Cackling.
"So good of you to show up. Tell me, Blackerly, what's the punishment for embezzlement?" Sophia asks, ducking under an arrow as she takes a step forward, seemingly moving into the hole in the ground. However, she disappears, and finishes her step one square south of where Ivy is. Turning, she casts Murderous Command on Blackerly himself.
Seeing the group of guards being finished off by the fighters, Razmir moves over to the north wall to get out of their way when they move towards the middle.
He surveys the current situation and looks confused by Blackerly's comment. "I can see you are a master tactician," he says sarcastically with a chuckle. He reaches into his component pouch, taking a pinch of butter he found in the kitchen. Rubbing his fingers together, he casts a spell creating a pool of grease in the area of the middle hatch.
Grumblejack ferociously swings his great club again and crushes the last guard before he can try to escape down the ladder. Instead his body crumples and falls below with a clang of armour and shield.
The guard resists Ivy's hex again. Unfortunately Blackerly's mind is not so strong and he falls to the influence of Sophia's magic as the other 2 guards fall over but luckily don't fall back down the ladder.
Now free to help the others, Bladud, Hjallmar, Aelwulf and the eagle rush over.
Bladud tears a chunk out of the nearest guard with his teeth as the others move in.
The guard that Bladud charged decides to retreat but falls over as he runs through the grease.
The other guards stand up which gives Aelwulf and the eagle an opening to attack. He fends off Aelwulf but the eagle bites him and he swings back.
Blackerly strikes at his ally that just stood up and kills him. The body falls back down the ladder. He finally comes to his senses but it might be too late.
An arrow flies past Razmir as the archer at the far end tries not to his Blackerly.
"Looks like you're slipping, Blackerly. Why don't you take a break, I'm sure your coin purse of ill gotten funds is weighing you down."
Sophia continues to cast spells at Blackerly as she speaks condescendingly at him. After casting Daze on him, she'll move to the square 10 feet to the left of Bladud.
Ivy attempts to cast Hex Vulnerability at the man who keeps resisting her spells, as she Cackles once more
With the closest group engaged with the fighters, Tazmir moves along the wall to get a clearer shot at the lone guard at the end of the room while the eagle tears into the guard next to it.
The bolt misses badly and he wonders why he even bothers trying to hit anything with it. The eagle on the other hand shows why it's such a skilled hunter as it catches the guard in the throat.
Having no moving opponents in front of him anymore, Grumblejack runs past Razmir to get to the front of the battle again.
The guard's mind is impenetrable and resists Ivy's hex magic.
He isn't as resistant to the attacks of Bladud and the eagle who both wound him and take him down.
Hjallmar takes out the other and both downed guards fall through the hatch to the ground floor below.
Blackerly sees his flanking men have fallen and himself being surrounded by the criminals but just stands there, as if stunned, watching his allies guardsmen fall, unable to do anything but defend himself. "You will be hunted down by the entire garrison! Your escape will be short lived."
Aelwulf is the first to engage Blackerly.
Another arrow streaks past you.
"Your garrison is nothing more than a pile of corpses stained in blood, Blackerly," Sophia states, but her eyes move towards the guardsman who is firing arrows. "Except for this one, for now."
Raising her hand, Sophia chants and lets loose a missile of force towards the guard on the far side of the room.
Ivy gives up and attempts to hex Blackerly with Misfortune.
Razmir looks at the diminishing amount of guards and then at Blackerly. "Is he worth anything alive?" he asks as if thinking out loud. To give the group a chance to consider what to do with the leader, he tries to get the eagle to engage the guard with the bow.
Grumblejack swings at Blackerly now that he is in range but the Sergeant deflects it with his blade.
Hjallmar and Bladud move around the grease to get to Blackerly and attacking, flanking with Aelwulf.
The eagle rushes past Blackerly to get at the archer. Blackerly swings his blade as it passes and slices it in 2 and it disappears in a flame.
Then he steps out of the grease and attacks Aelwulf unsuccessfully. Panicked, he looks around to see no other guards left standing with him.
Another arrow flies by just grazing Hjallmar.
Razmir shrugs when Blackerly kills the eagle. With Grumblejack blocking his way, he moves up behind the ogre, reading his crossbow to fire at the guard with the bow.
"You may be good at following orders but you might want to consider if that is worth your life. You may have a chance to escape before my friend here comes after you," he calls out to the guard and nods towards Grumblejack. He raises his crossbow to fire but pauses in case the man comes to his senses and withdraws.
"Nothing more to say, Blackerly? Why don't you command your men to stop us? Ready to beg for your life?" Sophia said with a smirk.
Waving her hands, Sophia shot out a glob of acid at Blackerly.
Ivy hits Blackerly with an Evil Eye hex, reducing his AC, cackling all the while.
Grumblejack moves forward towards Blackerly, able to keep himself from falling over in the grease as he swings again.
The Sergeant falls to another of Ivy's hexes as he is surrounded by Aelwulf, Bladud, Hjallmar and Grumblejack.
Their strikes bite deep into Blackerly and he collapses finally.
The final guard panics and jumps down the trapdoor he climbed up not long ago, closing it behind him.
Sophia will cast Stabilize on Blackerly if he's still alive. "We should have a clean path to the gate out of here after this. If I'm calculating how many we've killed and how many the papers mentioned, anyway," Sophia said to the group. "Bladud or Grumblejack, could you grab Blackerly? If there is anyone left asides from the one who just fled, I feel like tearing their boss in half in front of them might change their minds on challenging us, or we can kill him on the way out if no one stands in our way."
The kitsune will look over the group to see how wounded they are, but she couldn't heal them as she was tapped out on spells.
"Grumblejack take boss blueshirt." Blackerly is still alive and Sophia's spell stops him from dying right then. He is still very unconscious.
"We should leave, I don't think we should hang around here much longer. Besides, I don't see much more to gain, we seem to have investigated every inch of this place, and stolen what we need to. With almost no survivors remaining I think our work is now done."
"We still need to get through the gate at the shore. Let's check to make sure there are no guards left below and see about using tables as shields again. Otherwise, that may be a long walk to the gate. Grumblejack, are you able to carry Blackerly down the ladder? Having him as a prisoner could be useful," Razmir says as he checks the dead guards for anything useful.
The only guard immediately nearby is the one that fled down the trapdoor and is now stuck in room 3c.
There are still guards on the east wall that do not stand in your way.
Below is the gatehouse floor and the double doors to leave Branderscar.
Outside them is a path down the cliffs that leads towards the bridge. Across the bridge is the final guard post.
Sophia will confidently walk with the other escapees towards the last guard post, and will speak to the Ogre. "You should hold Blackerly as high as you can, Grumblejack, and if they try anything funny, snap him like a branch." She looks around towards the others. "Any objections or clever plans?"
Grumblejack chuckles sinisterly, holding Blackerly for transport. "Grumblejack snap chief blueshirt like a twig."
Razmir looks at the map of the prison. "That's going to be a long walk out in the open and once we start we either have to make it to the end or return here. There's only 2 guards at the end but we still have 5 in here. That's potentially 7 guards shooting arrows at us. I don't care to become a pin cushion. I think we should take the time to finish the guards off here so we don't have any at our backs. I know it will take a little more time but I don't think we are in a rush," he suggests.
"I would like to disagree," Sophia said. "We have a hostage, and crossing the bridge will take less than a minute even for me." The Kitsune waved her hand towards her bad leg when she said that.
"The doors of the keep look sturdy if you want to grab something for cover. Grumblejack has Blackerly, so they might not risk aiming at him. However, I do not feel confident fighting 7 more guards. I, for one, am out of magic for the day. I would rather take my chances with cover and the bridge and leave this place for good."
"Why don't we cross the bridge, taking the table or something else suitable for cover, and bring it behind us. If we get ambushed on two sides, at least we have cover and can use that to by extra time to charge the gate. Its possibly the best of both worlds - minus the additional time it might take to cross the bridge with a clunky table of some sort."
Razmir considers the suggestions of his companions, nodding slowly. "That seems reasonable. I've had about enough of this place," he says looking around for something to use as cover. "Grumblejack, do you think you can remove one of these doors without breaking it?"
"Grumblejack can break door off!" He climbs down and sets Blackerly aside and begins wrenching one of the doors off. It takes a bit for the hinges to finally snap but no guards barge in to attack you. It seems you've killed all of the prison guards, or enough of them that any remaining don't want to fight anymore.
With a door broken off for a shield, that may not be necessary anymore, you step outside the gatehouse to fresh ocean air and the path down the cliffs to the bridge lays before you.