At Deregar's statement, Tandri looks from him to the halfling, wondering if he forgot her or just didn't consider her worth mentioning. "Drink another." she offers another softly vial to the other dwarf who doesn't like her, but woke with his head in her lap. "You still look... peaked?"
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The potions rouse the trio of adventurers. Harrim and Valerie sit up woozily, but Amiri leaps to her feet and grabs her oversized sword. ”Where is that godsdamned giant? I’m going to cut his head off!”
"I'm looking forward to telling this story at the next banquet." Sariana says teasingly to Amiri. "After I've told the tale of how I broke the giant's leg, toppling it with a sound like thunder and killed it with a single blow to the back of the head, you can stand up and explain how you would have won in a fair fight. I'm sure everyone will be terribly impressed!"
She smiles at the barbarian. "I guess you'd better come with us and prove me wrong..." The teasing is clear, the taunting even more so!
Amiri growls, but then she grins. ”Ha! Just watch me!” She hefts her blade and takes a few practice swipes.
Harrim waves off Tandri’s offer. ”Keep it, lass. Groetus has ordained our time has not yet ended.” He clutches his religious symbol and channels healing energy.
The dwarf nods. ”Despite that, I’ve no wish to test my god’s patience. I shall return to the room and wait out this siege.”
As Harrim departs, Valerie recovers her bastard sword and heavy shield. She looks to Deregar. ”I will accompany you and lend my blade to the defense of the manor. If you would have me.”
"I'd be honored to have you at our side. Have you seen anyone else from the attack? We've dispatched a bunch of gangsters and an ogre."
For the first time, this strikes him as odd. "Crooks, a giant, an ogre? Who brought these people together?"
Valerie shakes her head. ”I do not know. We haven’t seen anybody else.”
”Perhaps we’ll learn more answers as we keep going,” Linzi says. ”Come on! Let’s go!”
***
The door that the frost giant was guarding is barricaded from the other side. Knocking on it causes some of the house guards on the far side to answer. When you explain the giant is dead, they unbar the door and allow you to pass into the Great Hall.
The Great Hall looks much different than it did hours ago during the feast. Three of the long tables have been turned on their sides and pushed against the large entry doors to the south to form a makeshift barricade. Dishes, broken goblets, and bloody stains mar the floor, while at least a dozen bodies lie against the east wall. Lady Jamandi’s guards gather at the barricades and in front of the double doors leading into the west wing. These doors are sealed, and several tapestries have been torn from the walls and wedged into the gap between the floor and the door in a feeble attempt to keep smoke from flowing into the hall from an apparent fire in the manor’s west wing.
Ivenzi, a lieutenant of Lady Jamandi’s guards, holds the Great Hall along with a half dozen other guards. A large man with gray eyes, closely cropped black hair, bushy eyebrows, and a thin mustache, Ivenzi greets you enthusiastically when you enter. ”It’s good to see you alive. None of the other adventurers invited to the feast have made their way back to the hall, so I had feared they were all slain. What happened in there?”
Tandri's eyes follow the retreating dwarf, the sting of rejection digging into her deeper. She manages to pull herself up, wiping off the dwarf's loose hair from her lap, and gathers her crossbow again.
"A giant would raise eyebrows from here to New Stetven, even more than the ogre." Tandri grumbles a bit, slipping the potion she attempted to give back in her pocket. Looking up finally and not just lost in her own head "I mean, um, someone should have seen the attack coming, with a giant approaching at least. I think." she babbles out the last bit.
Tandri stays behind the others, the tall people that eyes are on, though she does answer softly "Most everyone is dead." only one she knows about is the dwarf, and he seems Fine on his own.
"It looks as if the Black Tears were attempting to assassinate everyone in their beds," Floare offers as a minimal explanation. "Those that survived were set upon by an ogre and a frost giant."
She pulls Dante up into her arms.
"Did Lady Jamandi survive?" she asks.
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Fortunately Sariana has sharp ears and just enough speed to get out of the room before Harrim channels the energy of his god, saving her from being felled once more.
"Thought I heard reinforcements." She explains from the hallway. "We need to move. Quickly."
-------------------------------------------------
In the main hall she ignores the sting of the smoke and the flickering light. Ivenzi at least seems to be a sensible man.
"The Black Knives broke it." She says with a frown. "We've finished off half a dozen, an ogre and a giant. At least ten dead as well, guards, servants and guests. This isn't an attack Lieutenant, it's a massacre. Have you found the Swordlord yet? She'll be a target." If I were involved she'd the first target.
"Harrim, the cleric is still alive but chose to take cover by himself. The rest of us are here. Now what's the plan?"
There have been a few times in the past, when the caravans they've attacked have had too many guards, or when the 'little bit of rain' became a storm strong enough to drown in that Sariana has taken control of men before. It works, when the fear is strong enough even the most stubborn ignore the fact that she's a half-breed, female or just 'gives them the creeps' and sometimes she saves lives, but here and now she doesn't know enough and getting things wrong now gets people killed. And stupid though it is, there are people here she doesn't want to be hurt - not by random, two-bit thugs. So instead of commanding as was once so natural Sariana restrains herself, schools patience and waits for the lieutenant to tell her what to do.
Ivenzi frowns. "Lady Jamandi rallied her guards in this room, and after some tough fighting, we drove them off, though it was a near thing. Some of the attackers fled to the east wing, but most fled to the west wing.
“The hallway leading from the Great Hall and several of the guest chambers next to it are ablaze, but we also heard clashing blades coming from the west wing as recently as a few minutes before you arrived. So, I think the rooms further west are still safe. Getting to them is risky, but certainly possible.
"Lady Jamandi ordered me to hold the Great Hall, then took a squad of eight guards with her and went to clear out the West Wing. Her goal was to retake the Dueling Hall at the far end of the manor, so I’ll wager you’ll find her there. Please, try to reach her! I wager she is going to need as much help as she can get!"
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Sariana scowls, this is a lot of work for a charter, but... damn it. It needs doing.
"Right. Let's be quick about this then." She says with a frown. "Amiri, Deregar, Valerie, let's move." She turns to the girls and lets her voice soften for a moment. "You three can stay here. They need reinforcements here too, and people to deal with the injuries. You don't need to come with us."
Tandri imagined that their chances of charters to the new lands would go up like this place if Jamandi died. So for the sake of the charter chance, she says "Let's go then." with more courage than she felt. Desperation maybe. She moves up to the swordswoman, with an arced brow of 'Are You Coming? Cause there is no way in the entire hells you are leaving me here!'
Setting Dante down at her feet, Floare reloads her crossbow before looking down at the dark-haired woman.
"I don't take orders from you," she says with a smirk. She hopes that she sounds braver than she feels. "I can help rescue Lady Jamandi as well as you can." The wolf-pup gives a high-pitched bark, his tail wagging furiously.
"The more, the merrier, in my book. Linzi, want to write about our daring rescue?" Deregar makes a point not to forge the halfling this time.
Never get on a bard's bad side.
"Do we have any buckets or anything? Do we know how much of the West Wing is on fire?"
”You bet! This will make a thrilling opening chapter to my chronicle! Assuming we survive, of course,” Linzi says, ending on a sheepish note.
Ivenzi shakes his head. ”We don’t know how far the fire spreads, but the smoke in the hall is thick and choking.”
Upon hearing this, Amiri begins tearing strips of cloth off of the tables here and fashioning them into makeshift scarves. She douses them with water. ”Put these over your faces. They will help us breathe through the smoke.”
When you ready, you enter the west wing of the manor. This wide hallway is filled with billowing smoke. Further ahead, on either side of the hall, several open doorways are illuminated by flickering flames.
Each of these guest rooms is completely ablaze. The doors to each have burned to rubble, but not before the doomed adventurers sleeping within perished. Left as they are, the rooms will continue to smoke and burn. Fortunately, the manor’s stone walls and the lack of carpet or other flammable materials in the hall prevent the fire from spreading through the rest of the manor.
You attempt to put out flames by kicking apart burning debris, smothering smaller fires, or moving unburnt items out of the path of flames. Attempt a DC 15 Acrobatics, Athletics, or Survival check to determine the level of your success. If you use water as part of this action, you gain a +2 item bonus to this check. Alternately, you can use a spell to Fight Fires by attempting a spell attack roll as you Cast, although you’ll need to describe how you’re using the spell to the GM, who will then decide if the plan has a chance to succeed. If the spell has the Water trait, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus to this check. Certain spells, at the GM’s discretion, may automatically grant a critical success or instantly extinguish the flames.
Critical Success You gain 2 Extinguish Points.
Success You gain 1 Extinguish Point.
Critical Failure You lose 1 Extinguish Point.
With Dante plastered to her ankle as if her were tied there, Floare moves to the first room. Grabbing a tapestry from the wall that miraculously hasn't caught yet, she does her best to extinguish the flames.
"If the fire gets out of control, we'll be trapped between it and whoever we are fighting." Tandri rationalized, grabbing any vase she can get a hold of to splash on the flames.
Working quickly, Floare and Tandri extinguish the fires. They break open the windows in the bedrooms as well to allow the smoke to dissipate.
There is another room in this hall that is not a bedroom. This room’s plain stone walls and polished floor have already become stained with smoke. At the far end of the room—atop a stone dais—stands a marble statue of an armored half-elf woman. One of her hands clutches a heavy shield, while the other is clenched into a fist over her heart. This is another depiction of the goddess Milani. The statue seems to radiate a sense of safety and calm.
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Sariana helps, largely unbothered by the smoke since breathing is optional for people in her... 'state of life' but when they reach the shrine she feels an unpleasant chill down her back and slips quietly into the corridor once more, heading for the far end to make sure that no-one gets the drop on them all.
Basking in the aura of the shrine, Floare takes a seat on the floor with Dante in her lap, stroking his fur soothingly.
"She is a bossy one, isn't she, Dante?" Floare whispers quietly to her familiar.
She's dangerous, like me, he replies, grinning, stretching up to lap at her chin.
"Yes, very dangerous," she replies with a quiet chuckle.
Let's get to know the rabbit girl, Lady Tandri, though. I wanna know where she's hiding it.
"I'll see what I can do."
Tandri has a healthy respect for all gods, especially one committed to freedom. So she thanks the goddess, softly, before taking a moment to kneel and pray to hers. Her tail swishing and swaying while she does so.
When the peaceful moment is up, Dante hops out of Floare's lap and lopes over to sniff around the dwarf.
"Dante, you're being rude," Floare's says with a shake of her head. "I'm sorry about his behavior," she says to Tandri. "I can't dissuade him from the idea that you're hiding a rabbit on you somewhere."
The pup in question lifts his head and looks back at the witch.
"And you know I can't hear you unless I'm touching you, you rude little boy," she says with a chuckle. "Come. We need to rescue the Lady of the house."
Not one to look askance at any assistance, Deregar says a brief prayer of thanks to Milani.
Tyr just looks at him curiously.
Feeling rejuvenated, you proceed along the west wing, exiting the first hall through double doors at its end. Drifting coils of smoke waft in the air of this finely furnished room. Padded chairs and side tables are set along the west wall and a thick burgundy carpet covers most of the floor. Oil paintings hang on the walls, and shelves contain statuettes and other small art pieces.
The smoke in this room is slight and doesn’t hamper vision or breathing. The gnome Tartuccio lies sprawled on the floor near the entry doors.
Floare frowns. "I'm not ignoring him," she says in annoyance and approaches the comatose gnome to check to see if he still lives.
Lifting his head, she utilizes one of the healing potions in an attempt to bring him around.
"I... don't mind. Not one bit." Tandri beamed down at the perfect little fuzz monster. She SO much wants to bury her face into him, rubbing back and forth. But sigh, duty calls.
Tandri slowly moves to the gnome, worried something will jump them. If he is alive, she'll give him a potion... or she would have if Floare hadn't done so already. She gives her a soft smile for being like minded.
Tartuccio is alive, and the healing potion brings him around. He sputters and coughs as he staggers to one of the padded chairs to slump into it. "Ah! My loyal henchmen! Thank you so much for coming to my aid. Now, get me out of here! Escort me safely back to the Great Hall."
Deregar lifts an eyebrow. "I beg your pardon?" He gestures down the smoky hallway. "The great hall is that way, and nothing stands between you and it except a short walk. Meanwhile, we've got to check on the lady of the house."
Tandri's eyes just narrow at the gnome, her lips squeezing together, dimpling to one side, as if to keep herself from cussing the turd bucket out. She looks to Deregar and nods swiftly, already moving with him toward their prize.
Tartuccio snarls in disgust, but he gets up and quickly scurries off down the corridor.
"What a pompous blowhard!" Linzi scoffs. Amiri and Valerie share similar sentiments.
You move on through a partially-stocked armory and into a parlor. This large room contains several padded chairs, a comfortable-looking pair of couches, several side tables, and a finely crafted billiards table.
The elf Jaethal is sprawled on one of the couches with her mouth gagged and hands tied behind her back with rope. A trio of cutthroats are preparing to interrogate her, including a sinister-looking man wielding a pair of sharp knives.
"You can't have her!" Tandri yells, stepping defiantly forward, her eyes like little fires, almost like a hero. Almost since what is going through her mind is the loss of a place to make hers, and NOT saving the elf lady cause it is the right thing to do.
She'll have to work on her character later, now she needs to kill these asses before they kill her chances.
As one of the cutthroats turn to her shout a crossbow bolt fires into him/her, followed by a painful itching rot as negative energy eats into their flesh.
Deregar and Tyr rush to attack the cuthroats.
for
for
Floare frowns at the gnome's arrogance, but Deregar puts her feelings into words before she can articulate them. She shakes her head in disbelief as he makes his escape.
~~~~~
The witch raises her crossbow to fire at one of the thugs threatening the elf. Her eyes widen in surprise when the bolt strikes one of the ruffians right between the eyes.
Tandri shoots the lead thug, then wracks his body with negative energy. Deregar moves in to impale the man with his longspear, finishing him off. Tyr takes down another of the cutthroats with his jaws, while Floare shoots the last man right between the eyes! The fight is over before it could even really get started!
Once you untie and ungag Jaethal, the elf thanks you for your aid. "I am lucky you came along when you did. I shudder to think what would have happened if you had not. I must confess that I am a little rattled from this whole ordeal. I shall return to the Great Hall to gather my wits. But I overheard those ruffians mention that the 'boss and those two giants' have cornered the lady of the manor in the dueling pit. You should hurry to her aid!"
"TWO giants??" Tandri nearly chokes as she reloads her crossbow.
Floare pales and reconsiders whether her hubris in pressing forward in spite of the opportunity to remain the great hall was really the best choice. She nods at Tandri and reloads her own weapon and plays the unfamiliar spell in her mind over and over as if reassuring herself that the energy is still there.
"Forward," she says in a shaking voice.
"I don't doubt the lady can hand herself. She's a swordlord, isn't she?"
Though I doubt those giants are going to give her a fair fight.
Tyr grumbles, "Swordlords can be defeated, as you well know."
You move on into the dueling chamber. A large recessed area sits in the floor of this enormous chamber. Racks containing practice blades and stands holding suits of padded armor line the north and south walls.
Lady Jamandi is here, facing off against a pair of frost giants in the open area to the northwest of the dueling pit. At the same time, an auburn-haired woman with a wickedly curved greataxe enters from the opposite door, accompanied by four more Black Tear cutthroats. Lady Jamandi you and points out the woman, yelling, “Just in time! That’s their leader; take her out while I deal with these oafs!”
"We'll keep the lesser foes occupied," Valerie says, raising her shield. "You focus on the leader!" She and Amiri move in to engage the cutthroats as Linzi begins an inspiring chant.
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"Two giants is a lot, but we can deal with that." Sariana says confidently. "Look at what you all did here."
She'd been distracted by memories, rather pleasant ones, at the sight of a bound and gagged elf and plenty of sharp knives. Such delicious memories, but this wasn't the time.
"When we find her, engage the giants at range." She declares. "Floare, Tandri, anyone else with ranged attacks - your job is to distract it, hurt it and kill it, in that order. The rest of us head for Jamandi as quickly as possible. If we have to go through a giant, take its legs out and move on. We have to keep her alive first."
It feels just like some of the kidnapping raids she'd been on a few years back, when Slipper was still a decent guy and not off his head on demon blood. Although this time I'm trying to save the target. The irony makes Sariana laugh and her wide, dangerous grin is the first thing visible as she charges onwards.
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When they get to the duelling room though it seems Jamandi is doing better than expected, and has ideas of her own. Sari rolls with the new plan, cracking her knuckles with a grin.
"You heard her girls, let's get the red-haired b%+%$!"
With a quick nod, Floare raises her crossbow and fires at the woman.
She then quickly reloads and fires again.
Tandri started to line up her shot to one of the huge giants that are easy to hit to a red head that is wickedly cute and MISSES like SO MUCH, it fires way too early and shatters against a wall.
"Oh... Sorry!" she yells at the red head, so some freaking reason, then reaches out to regretfully Hurt her.
The Black Tears leader winces as Tandri harms her, but she dodges your crossbow bolts. She moves in on Tyr and raises her axe above her head, putting all of her might into a brutal blow! Tyr is banished as the pain of the strike diverts to Deregar, taking the summoner out!
Tandri winces, seeing the handsome young man nearly cleaved in two. She was going to reload and do better this time shooting the axe-wielding redhead, but instead, she reaches out with her power to bring Deregar back to life.
Taking a deep breath, she moves toward the battle, hoping to help Sariana, or at least distract the leader while Deregar gets up.
Deregar gasps awake!
He stands, scrambles back, and casts shield.
As Floare begins the words to a spell, a tiny ball of lightning starts to form in her hand. Reaching the climax, she flings the ball at the red-headed woman.
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Sariana, meanwhile, dances into combat without sparing even a wince for Deregar's being so firmly felled.
She manages to grasp the woman's red hair from behind and yank her head back sharply but the woman's armor around her chest is quite considerable and protects her from the rapid one-two combination the definitely-not-a-vampire unleashes.
Floare's spell shocks the boss, causing her to shudder and blink at the dazzling lights. Sariana uses the opportunity to grab a hold of her, but she is unable to land a good hit. The woman snarls and raises her axe high, bringing it down on the monk to try to knock her down! She tries to follow up and finish her off, but she misses.
The snarl gives Tandri a moment of gaping awed wonder, then she shakes her head and Focuses away most of Sariana's wound away before the warrior woman has must time to feel it. She can do nothing about momentum and force and other sciency things that might make her end up on her ass.
Her fingers reach out to the redhead, grazing her hip, almost tenderly, then leaving behind a painful Sting. Just like a wasp, an initial sharp ouch, followed by a throbbing lingering pain.
Cast somatic, 1 action
Range touch
Targets 1 creature
Damage 1d4 Ment +1d4 pers Ment
Saving Throw DC 17 Will
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target takes half damage and no persistent damage.
Failure The target takes full initial and persistent damage.
Critical Failure The target takes double initial and persistent damage.
With her only real attack spell expended, Floare reloads her crossbow and fires again.