Byron and Winsome, then the enemy.
Byron takes a moment to study his next opponent before stepping forward to attack.
Byron steps up and swings but the last creature standing, looks ready dodging the hefty swing at the last second.
Round 3 left to go: Aiko, winsome, Zaraleva, Dire Corbies, Lyraesal
Aiko manages another short cut but isn't able to land an effective strike.
Winsome attempts to climb up, using the rope that Adrian tossed down.
Lyraesel presses the attack, trying to bring down the frenzied bird-man before it can do more damage.
Aiko’s slash finds true, winsome starts to make his way up the rope but starts to slip on the stones still wet with morning dew.
Round 3 left to go: winsome, Dire Corbies, Lyraesal Stated
Winsome tries again.
Winsome scampers up, to see the chaos of the tower. The fire corny bloodied but not in the state the one that just perished was whirls around. Slashing at Aiko who just wounded it as it steps up.
The claws land home as the fury of the creature is on display fighting despite its impending doom.
That's a bit enough from the bird. Adrian moved over to flanking position to put and end to the creature.
The monk sought to end things with a somersault kick, landing both feet on the winged creature's chin.
Lyraesal runs in and slashes at the bird, leaving it bleeding and frenzied before Adrian’s kick comes in and lands with a loud crunch. The bird’s neck snaps and you hear a gurgle. With that the creature falls on its face and you look around as the creatures lie dead.
The monk landed on his feet and was glad the creature was finally down. He quickly got to the wall and motioned everyone else to hurry up the wall so they could get moving to the next section.
As the others climb up to join them, Lyraesel studies the stony surface of the battlements, looking for prints or any other sign of where the Dire Corbies had come from inside.
Aiko wipes a trickle off blood from her neck and grimaces slightly at her own clumsiness.
"I'm going to check the body... then we need to get rid of them. Though the blood on the stones will be impossible to hide, unless we have magic to clean it up."
Kelda comes running having followed behind and held rearguard, quickly climbing the rope and helping Zaraleva up as well. As she chambers up you all reconvene. You can see a hatch leading down easily enough.
Byron will also aid in searching the bodies and dumping them over the wall to hide them from easy sight.
As the bodies are dumped, Lyraesel stands over each blood pool uttering a phrase in an ancient primal language as she conjures gallons of water to obscure much of the details of what has happened.
From the top of the all you can see an ancient-looking catapult sits atop the stone roof of this flat- topped building on the opposite side of the courtyard. Moss grows on the catapult’s ropes and on the four round boulders sitting nearby. You can hear from inside the castle the sounds of creatures growling and squeaking but the sound doesn’t seem to change despite the quick combat.
As you all start to work to clean the blood up and move the bodies you hear from below several loud squaks and the sound of a board moving and can see below the doors open. Two more of the creatures look to be making a run for it.
So much for the element of surprise.
"We can't let them sound any alarms." Adrian rushes forwards in the hopes of catching up to those two.
Racing down beside Ardian, Lyraesel drops low to slash at the knee of one of the crow-men, seeking to take it down with her attack
"Adrian, no! You're still wounded!" Zaraleva rushes out halfway to Adrian (20 feet) while still staying within 30 feet of Aiko, so she can channel. I don't know why the two corbies might be wounded, but I exclude them from the channel.
Byron will move to intercept as well!
Aiko likewise stows her naginata (standard action) and starts making her way back down to help engage.
Winsome swallows and looks around. "I'll, uh... guard this door," he suggests.
Several of you go to get to the doors on the inner courtyard to stop any others from being pulled into the fight, just as the doors start to creep open.
Lyraesal easily manages to drop down and with sickle in hand readies an attack for the moment she sees her prey.
No mistakes this time. He took note to thank Zaraleva for the healing later as he leaps and bounces off from the wall to land safely, adrenaline making sure he didn't slip and fall this time around.
Aiko eschews the rope and simply leaps down and tumble-rolls when she hits the ground.
Kelda sword and shield in hand vaults over the side of the rampart.
She lands with a solid thud next to the rest of you, while maybe it was the way he landed or a rock was under his foot but Buron’s knees buckle and he falls as he lands on the ground taking damage.
With what preparation you could the doors open to two fire corbies surprised by your presence just outside the door. One of the the fire corbies is hit with a magic missile while the other is caught by Lyraesal’s sickle and tripped. Kelda goes to slash with her longsword at the tripped one.
Unfortunately it proves to quick and you see it roll over out of the way just in time.
Turn order Adrian, Byron, Aiko, winsome, Zaraleva, Lyraesal, Kelda, DC’s
Adrian moves his way over to the one still standing to try and bring it down.
Byron takes a moment to examine the corby next to him and attacks from the ground.
Aiko leans forward and thrusts her naginata past Adrian into the doorway.
The one on the ground takes a vicious hit from the greatsword, while the standing one finds itself battered. Aiko is unable to get an attack in having to pull back to avoid hitting Adrian.
Turn order Adrian, Byron, Aiko, those that are left in the turn: winsome, Zaraleva, Lyraesal, Kelda, DC’s
Zaraleva feels like she's on top of the world pointing her deadly crossbow down at the unsuspecting, evil, murdering, kidnapping monsters.
to hit.
Total of 20 vs. flatfooted and firing into melee against the standing one?
Winsome moves next to Zaraleva and fires an arcane bolt at the other monster.
Undaunted, Aiko lashes out past Adrian again, this time scoring a telling hit.
The one standing is assailed by Adrian’s attacks. Fighting on despite the attack overwhelming injuries. When suddenly a bolt hits it square in the back of the head. It drops, the one on the ground is struck by the arcane bolt and with Aiko’s slash starts frothing at the mouth as it’s bleeding out barely alive.
Kelda lunges forward and drives the blade through the creatures chest, it claws at it for a moment before dying. You all are left on the outskirts of the courtyard and the ramparts. The gatehouse is open and you can see faintly inside that there is no other threats inside, which is more than you can say for the rest of the area.
"We better hurry before any more enemies try and rush us." Adrian cautiously moves through the door while looking for anything that could be dangerous.
Zaraleva uses the rope to rappel down the wall and helps Winsome if he needs it.
If there's more time and no one else has done so, she'll loot the bodies.
With a nod, Lyraesel slips inside the gatehouse, scouting the area.
Zaraleva you go to loot the bodies but they carry nothing on them, not even clothes, and quickly moving on to the room. As you guys search the room you see the stone structure has a packed dirt floor, and numerous wooden support beams for the stone ceiling above. The south door is a wooden set of doors with rusted iron bracing. A mechanism holds it shut and a old lever is next to it. Two ladders lead up to hatches that lead to the top of the walkway you were at.
Adrian you notice amidst the dusty room several signs: spilled arrows near the slits, old bloodstains, longbows scattered about and long since ruined. You can tell some great battle took place here, however it was long ago. Years possibly decades by the looks of it.
"I think we have kept the element of surprise. Where do we want to start?" Byron asks as he follows into the guardhouse.
"What if we work our way along the perimeter, clearing the towers of lookouts?" She points to the towers on the map (labeled U2 out of character.)