As the wolf rushes in past Reishia she loses interest in that fight and walks down around past Dorian behind one of the other men.
"What? i uhhh. Torag?"
Nadesico falls to the floor and is prone.
Syrenna steps out into the hall, bow drawn. Drat, not alot of room. she fires an arrow at the target in front of Trenna.
Reishia and Dorian both move into the room, re-positioning.
Syrenna's attack misses the masked man, her arrow flying high.
Trenna gores and rips the poor soul in the mask to shreds, nearly dropping him to the ground in the process. He remains on his feet only to have Vanny finish off the job and send the man to the ground a bloody mess.
The two man flanking the prone oradin both swipe at her with their mastework razors, one of them slashing her across the back of her eft calf .
Taking a step forward she stabs at the masked man.
Atk:
Dmg:
Dorian flicked his barbed whip around Reishia and yanked one of the men pincering the catfolk paladin off his feet.
Trenna races around the room to attack the man swinging at Warri Nabisco. She makes a large hole in his shirt but fails to hurt him.
Nadesico shrieks in agony as she is slashed yet again. Feeling as if she is once again gaining control of herself, she takes a defense position and stands back up, shouting at the men taunting them.
"Torag smiles upon me today, I still stand. Put down your weapons and end this less you be cleansed of your evil ways by none other than Dorian the Butcher!!!"
As Nadesico shouts, she begins to glow in a holy light.
Dorian yanks one of the cultists off his feet, pulling him down to the ground just as Reisha slashes him with her blade. Trenna tries to take a bite of the northern most cultist, but he proves too elusive for her.
Vanny has a shot lined up on the man flanking Nadeisco, but as the monkey fires Dorian pulls the cultist to the ground and his arrow sails through the spot where he previously was standing.
Meanwhile the cat stands up and proceeds to touch herself in the middle of the combat.
Syrenna contemplates the next alcoholic beverage she will down when this is over, delaying.
One of the cultist screams "SKINSAW!" before unleashing a blast of negative energy from his body. The second cultist follows in the path of his brother, unleashing a second blast of negative energy.
Trenna winces as the negative energy rolls over her. She grabs onto his leg and tries to drag him to the ground.
Syrenna steps over and fires an arrow at the prone cultist!
Her arrow plants itself SQUARELY between the cultist's legs, narrowly missing his family jewels.
------------
HP: 48/52
Will 1:
Will 2:
Atk: (base, prone, flank)
Dmg:
Shurgging off most of the first channel she wasn't expecting the second one, taking the brunt of it. She quickly stabs at the man on the ground.
Dorian rocked as the deadly energy washed over him, but he just gritted his teeth and shouted.
"You're going to have to do better than that, you mouse fart! Now give up, or I'll come over there, rip your arms off, and beat you to death with the wet ends before I strangle your friend here with his own intestines!"
Nadesico yells back at the men "For Torag!" as she swings her sword with great justice at the prone man between her and Reisha.
+prone + flank
The party converges on the remaining cultists, beating them repeatedly with a multitude of attacks. The one Dorian intimidates looks like he might be ready to say something in return just before Torag's furry herald knocks him unconscious and ends the battle.
Each of the four cultist has the following gear: leather armor, hand crossbow, 10 bolts, masterwork war razor, skinsaw mask, 20 gp.
With combat concluded you are finally able to take a look around. This is a place of mist and noise. Four immense waterwheels churn steadily in the northern part of this large room, while to the south, whirring belts of leather, gears, pulleys, and thick ropes spin and churn, using the eternal motion oft he river below to power pistons that rumble along the southern wall.
"Well, that was interesting. Who needs patching up before we tear this place apart looking for clues?"
Dorian pulled out his healing wand and focused on it for a bit. "Hmm...remind me to pick up another of these when we are done here. This one's not going to last much longer."
Stabbing the nearest man a few more times she waits expectantly for the cat to do something for the aches.
"Thought we picked one of those up recently" she replies to Dorian.
Nadesico pants a bit before calming down. "Well that went not quite as I expected, but again we come out on top. Great job team!"
She motions for everyone to gather close. "Now let Torag handle your wounds before we venture forward"
She raises her shield high in the air, releasing a powerful prayer of healing energy.
"There! All better now. Shall we head upstairs I suppose?"
Stabbing the nearest man a few more times she waits expectantly for the cat to do something for the aches.
"Thought we picked one of those up recently" she replies to Dorian.
The group heads back outside and up the stairs. Once back on ground level you head west and south onto the pier on the western side of the mill. A double door to your east is closed, obvious sounds of milling taking place on the other side of the doors.
Trenna stands near the door, "I might be able to flush some people out - I'm sure seeing a wolf running around the mill floor would freak out some of the workers. And I could try and identify who isn't surprised." He sits and scratches an ear, "I'm sure you have a method to clearing buildings though so wherever I can fit in, just let me know."
Nadesico jumps in excitement "Usually I run in, and get really hurt, but its ok because it lets the others take care of those who try to harm us. I just try my best to hold my shield high with Torag's strength"
The cat seems very much overly excited about coming to realization that she is an awful front liner.
"Shall we go? Yes team lets go!" Nadesico cheers with a childlike ignorance before she smashes her way through the side door.
When she gets inside yells out "Rat exterminators! Watch out for those big rats!"
TrennaWolf feels a surge of adrenaline at Nadesico's speech. She quickly follows her into the room, looking for something to bite.
Nadesico bursts through the door into what appears to be a large loading bay. No apparent threats are visible, so the party has time to look around.
The entirety of the first floor consists of a loading area. An opening in the ceiling into the floor above is filled with a tangle of ropes and slings for lowering timber. Nearby, stairs ascend to the next floor. Two sturdy wagons sit to the south, next to a bank of machinery accessed by four low doors; the grinding and creaking of the machinery fills the room.
Dorian moved in at the all-clear, and began looking about the place. He noted the wagons and the loading ropes, but then he started looking for the non-obvious.
TrennaWolf looks around for anything of interest, focusing on the wagons.
Trenna and Dorian both note that the ropes hanging here could be climbed up to the upper floor if needed, but there are stairs which appear to provide an easier entrance.
The four low doors to the south open into workspaces where the waterwheel-driven machinery that powers the logsplitters and saws on the upper floors runs up along the southern wall of the mill.
Perception:
"Hm yes, wagons, ropes and stairs."
"Well that was a bit of a letdown" Nadesico looks up before jumping up and down all gitty like []b"Ohhh but we can surely go up! Yes that would be puurrrrfect! Lets go team!"[/b]
And on that she runs herself up the stairs, practically dragging Trenna with her along the way.
Nadesico leads the party up the stairs, the sounds of woodworking machinery growing louder. At the top of the stairs is a small 20x20 room with another staircase leading up, a 10x5 hole in the floor with ropes traversing both up and door and a closed door to the south.
TrennaWolf looks around the room for anything out of the ordinary. She quickly casts Detect Magic and examines the door and staircase in particular.
"Surely there are other workers in this place yes? This is quite dissapointing. Onward team of might warriors!" Nadesico shouts before barging her way through the door to the south.
"Closed door it is, then. Carry on, my lady cat!"
Dorian checks the door for locks and traps, then motions their resident doorbreaker onward.
Nadesico throws caution to the wind as she barges through the door to the south. into a large storeroom filled with stacks of timber, firewood, and other finished lumber products waiting for shipment. A network of pulleys on tracks covers the ceiling, ropes dangling here and there to aid in the shifting of inventory as needed. Machinery churns along the south wall, while nearby two chutes fitted with winches allow lumber to be hauled up from the holding pools below. Four openings in the ceiling lead to the upper floor; chutes extend through each of these from the log splitters in the room above. Under each opening is a collection bin.
Six men are in this room working at the mill when the catfolk enters the room. Upon the sudden intrusion, they all stop their work and look up at the group outside the door. Two of the mention approach Nadesico with smiles asking "How can we help you?"
"Well for one thing, you can tell us why the gentlemen downstairs put on those hideous masks and attacked us. Then you can explain why a group of cultists are using this mill as a base of operations. And finally, you can give us information on the leadership of the cult. Is that it? yes, I think that's it...for now at least."
Trenna walks in beside Dorian, sitting at his side, tongue out and panting, trying to look like a normal dog.
The men all look at each other, blinking in silence. Finally one of them speaks and motions you forward. [b]"What?! That's horrific? Please come in, let us go down and inspect this terrible, terrible crime. Are you hurt? We can help heal you, we are trained in the ways of channeling energy.
All of the men slip war razors into their hands, hidden out of sight from most of your party. They appear ready to strike any second.
Perception:
Not really paying attention to what was being said Reishia looks at the men as they do something suspicious.
"Oh it's party time gang!" As she readies herself.
Nadesico looks around, seemingly oblivious, and nodding in agreement
"Yes, it was quite awful. How can you all be up here working and not understand what is happening just 20 feet down below? What a strange mill this is. "
She perks up at the sounds of channeling energy. "Ohh, you are all proficient in the channeling ways too? How exciting! Skippy! My strength flows from Torag. Where does your strength come from?"
The one who had been conversing with Nadesico growls "From Norgorber! For the Skinsaw Man!" The cultists pull out their war razors and slip their masks on, clearly no longer interested in conversing.
Dorian sighed as he moved into the room and flicked his whip out. "You are a terrible liar, neighbor. Still, perhaps your very messy death will convince your friends there to cooperate?"
The whip lashed out and dropped the man to the floor beside Nadesico.
Darting forward she raises her hand in front of the first man unleashing a flurry of balls at him and his companions.
DC 16 Reflex for half. 30' Cone targeting the 3 men south.
Syrenna steps up and unleashes a torrent of attacks!
The force of her first blow, surprising Syrenna, causes her to flail wildly with her other arm and miss with her follow up attacks!
Dorian's whip sends the cultist tumbling down to the ground.
Reisha's blast catches all three cultist unprepared, injuring them.
Syrenna steps up behind the catfolk and unleashes a deadly attack upon the first cultist inside, killing him outright.
Three more cultists move in and surround Nadesico, two of them now flanking her. One of the flanking cultists manages to critically slash her with his war razor.
Another cultists proclaims to her. "DROP!"