"All the way down the hall?"
"Yes," the man says "And out of our mission if you please."
"Father, have you read your sign lately? Or walked among those inhabiting bunkhouse?"
"What are you talking about?" the younger man says, "You-" The old priest raises his hand and cuts the younger one off. "Let me speak Jhonas." Addressing Tessirda he says "No I have not read the signs lately, I rarely leave the mission any more. I see you are a woman of faith, so I will trust your word. What are you telling me? "
Uzés connect with a solid blow to the thug's solar plexus. Ugh.." he says and staggers backward, then turns and flees around the corner gone from sight.
Amunyet takes a chunk out of the wall with her scimitar.
"Please don't hurt me," the boy says to Zavos "I can tell you things."
Just then the ragged beggar steps into view coming from around the corner of the building. " I bet you will rat," he says "and it will be the last thing you say." His dagger is in his hand.
Zavos tells the boy, "Get back inside."
He then attempts to daze the beggar.
Uzes leads the way after the retreating man, approaching the corner cautiously as he is aware of the blood streaming down his leg.
Zindit took the man's suggestion as all she needed to bolt. She intended to see if the far end of the hall cut around as she had hoped the room she and Kelne had entered would, but she wasn't taking any chances on wasting time now that Uzes and Amunyet seemed to be pressing their advantage. She glanced down the stairs on her way, keeping her eye out for incoming trouble from below.
Deciding that Tessirda has the diplomatic situation in hand, Kelne returns to the door to check on the progress of the fight. From there, he ought to be able to reinforce whoever seems most in need, though a lack of yells seems to indicate nobody's too far in over their heads.
Tessirda gave the younger man a withering look. Something about him struck her as off. She blinked, and tried to tap into the feeling on a deeper level? Was this just the man being in her way, or was there more to it?
"I'm telling you that thugs have taken over the flophouse. The truly needy dare no longer go there. They serve a man called the pauper." She spoke softly, and always kept an eye on the younger assistant to the drunken priest. "Have you not seen the people sleeping in the chapel? The pauper's men occupying the mission?"
Amunyet sees Uzes go after the man, and yells "Uzes! You should wait for the rest! You could be heading into an ambush!" Looking quickly about, Amunyet spies Zindit and then Kelne as the closest two.
"Zindit! Kelne! Hurry! Uzes went after the man by himself; he'll need our help!" Amunyet then immediately takes off after Uzes.
Jhonas is not evil.
"I'm telling you that thugs have taken over the flophouse. The truly needy dare no longer go there. They serve a man called the pauper." She spoke softly, and always kept an eye on the younger assistant to the drunken priest. "Have you not seen the people sleeping in the chapel? The pauper's men occupying the mission?"
"This is the first I have heard of any of this." the old priest says, seeming genuinely concerned. "Is that who you were fighting? This 'pauper' and his men? If so, you have my blessing." He turns to the younger man.
"Jhonas, do you know anything about this?"
"No, of course not Father. I have heard of the Splithog Pauper, but I had no idea he was staying here."
"I am sorry if I falsely accused you." he says to Tessirda "But I have to look after Father Padrick. Please do what you have to do to rid the mission of these men."
Uzés peeks around the corner in time to see the man he hit limping through a door to the left. Amunyet is behind Uzés, with Kelne and Zindit around the corner.
The boy squeals and runs back upstairs. The beggar stops in his tracks and doesn't move or speak.
"R-right!" Zindit pulled her eyes away from the stairs and took off after Uzes and Amunyet. She noted with relief that the snapping dog was dead.
Uzes rushes the man before he can make it out of the room. Unfortunately the monk misses in the rush.
Zavos calls out, "A little help would be appreciated!" and attempts to keep his opponent dazed.
"Right," Kelne responds, heading swiftly downstairs to Zavos's aid and directing a menacing glare at the beggar.
"Knock it off," he tells him sternly, extending a sword still slick with blood before him.
Uzés catches up to the thug at the entrance to a small bunkroom. The thug realizes he is not going to get away and turns and rasies his hands. "Please..."
Light from the outside shines through an open door across the room. Zindit zips past Amunyet and catches up to Uzés.
Downstairs the beggar continues to stare off into space...
"Yes. We were attacked as soon as we approached the bunkhouse. Actually, I am almost thankful the enemy so readily unmasked himself." Tessirda replied, her relief genuine. Going against an enemy they did not know, and having to rely on Maybell's testamony would have complicated things immensely. This was much easier, easily justified bloodshed.
"I am sorry you were attacked." the old Priest says, "It saddens me that such a thing would happen here." He goes over to his desk and pours himself a glass of wine and sits down.
"It sounds like your friends are still fighting. Should you not help them?"
Zindit rushed past the surrendering thug and Uzes towards the open door across the room, throwing her back against the side as she took a quick glance inside, listening for the sound of any bowstrings being drawn taut.
"Fine. Sit, with your hands behind your back." says Uzes. If the man has a weapon the monk will remove it first.
"I just wanted to make sure you know why we're here. If you can, take a look for Maybell. She must be scared." Tessirda replied, and raised her blade again before she returned to the fray.
"Oh yes, clearly a terrible danger," Kelne says mildly, waving his sword up and down in an effort to draw the man's attention. He considers belting the man with the flat of his sword, but doing that to an essentially helpless foe just doesn't seem right.
"So, how long before he wakes up?"
Amunyet comes into the room, and sees that Uzes has disarmed the foe. "Where are the other two?" she demands of the thug.
"Fine. Sit, with your hands behind your back."
The thug does as Uzés says.
Zindit comes into the room and sees it is an empty, but occupied, bunk room. The door at the far end is open and there is an outside balcony past it.
"Where are the other two?"
"Ran I guess. Out there. Off the roof."
Downstairs, the beggar continues to state off into space.
Zindit squeezed by Uzes and the thug and darted for the balcony, whipping her head around and searching frantically for any sign of their quarry. Catch him and it'll make them happy! Can't blame you for anything then!
Ouside the door Zindit finds she is on a broad deck that is the roof of the chapel. There is a coop full of pigeons on the corner of the deck, and a man stands next to it (not one of the thugs). A tree grows in the coutyard in back of the mission and one of its branches is close enough to the deck to reach.
The two thugs are climbing down the tree.
"Hey!" Zindit called back loudly. "They're climbing down a tree here!" She was beginning to climb up the railing, but looked back, waiting to see if any of the others were following.
Hearing Zindit's yell, Amunyet instead runs back to shout down to Zavos and Kelne, "The remaining two are escaping out the back!"
Not being a climber, she yells back to Zindit, "Try to keep them in sight, my friend!" She then begins down the steps at her quickest speed, in an attempt to get around behind the two escapees.
Friend. Zindit grinned. She had Amunyet on her side now!
She was eager to stay in the priestess' good graces, so she set out to keep them in sight. There was no telling where they would head after they made it down the tree...
Zindit tried to climb up the railing to make her way over to the tree, looking back at the man near the pigeon coop warily. "Hi." was the only thing she ould think of to say.
Uzes doesn't like to leave the single captured opponent sitting here alone but nor does he like to see the others running. He picks up the captive's weapon gives him a very serious and deadly look, "Don't move or I'll hunt you through shadows and leave you bleeding in an alley if you're not here when I get back." He then heads out after Zindit. If he still has time he'll jump to the tree and give chase.
The man by the pigeon coop looks at Zindit with wide eyes and says nothing. He is unarmed. Zindit grabs the branch that is closest to the railing and tries to climb onto it, but her foot slips on the railing and she falls to the courtyard below
The thugs laugh. "Look at that stupid gnome, she fell! Get 'er Bal!" the elf says. The two thugs proceed to climb swiftly down the tree, as if the have done so every day.
"Don't move or I'll hunt you through shadows and leave you bleeding in an alley if you're not here when I get back."
The wounded thug nods and but says nothing. Uzés reaches the railing and sees the two thugs moving toward Zindit laying on the ground.
As Amunyet runs toward the stairs she catches a glimpse of the boy darting down the western hallway and hears the sound of a door open and close.
Tessirda, glad to have averted a direct conflict with the actual caretakers of the asylum darted towards the gnome, just as she fell to the ground. Her blade would make climbing awkward, to say the least, but noone was going down here.
I am going to restart rounds with the 2 separate groups.
In the back, Zindit is prone on the ground in the courtyard, and two thugs are halfway down the tree going to get her. Uzés is at the railing on the deck that forms the roof of the chapel.
Uzés and Zindit left the unarmed and wounded thug in the room just off the deck. Tessirda passes him on the way to the deck, and he stands against the wall with his hands raised.
In the back, Zavos has dazed the beggar again, both he and Kelne are free to act. Amunyet is making her way to them. The kid is hiding somewhere in one of the bunk rooms.
Zindit picked herself up, panicking and crying from the shock of the fall. "Stay away! STAY AWAY!" she screamed as she held her knife before her.
Uzes leaps into the tree and tries to drop as quickly down to the ground as he can.
Zindit saw the half-orc coming down after the thugs. Oh yes! Hurryhurryhurryhurryhurry! She backpedalled as quickly as she could away from the thugs, trying to draw them away from the tree.
"Oh, sod it," Kelne says at last, stepping forward and bashing the beggar in the face with his shield.
Believing that Kelne has the situation at the foot of the stairs under control, Amunyet runs as quickly as possible to the back of the building to help Zindit and Uzes.
Uzés climbs quickly down the tree and reaches the courtyard catching up to the thugs.
Zindit stands up and backs away form the trees, but the pursuing thugs catch her and attack, both missing in their haste.
Tessirda arrives at the railing and starts to climb down.
Kelne smacks the still-dazed beggar with his shield, bloodying his face.
Keeping with what is working, Zavos ddazes the beggar again.
Amunyet, seeing that things are well in hand, turns around and runs back to the courtyard, arriving at the railing.
"Take him alive, Kelne."
Uzés hits the thug from behind as he falls from the tree, dropping him to the ground, unconscious.
A feral grin spread over Zindit's face as Uzes knocked out one of the thugs. Her fight-or-flight instincts reversed completely in that moment. "Shoulda left me alone! SHOULDA LEFT ME ALONE!"
She scrambled around the remaining attacker, trying to pin him between herself in Uzes, and slashed at his calves.
"Naturally," Kelne says, directing another shield bash at the hapless thug.
Tessirda put her muscles into action as she began to make progress up the tree - trying to not think about the precarious balance and position she put herself in.
Uzes moves into a flanking position with Zindit but misses his opponent.
Zavos continues to try to keep the beggar dazed.
Uzés moves to engage the elf and Zindit slips by him to the other side. The elf slashes with his longsword but misses badly. Uzés's attack misses but Zindit manages to stab the elf.
The elf throws down his weapon and raises his hands. "I give up!"
Tessirda is having some trouble descending the tree with her big sword , while Amunyet waits her turn at the railing.
Kelne tries to bash the beggar again but he fails to do significant damage. Zavos tries to keep him dazed, but the beggar finally manages to shake off the spell.
Zindit's dagger shook in her hand. She was poised to strike again, and the twitching of her eye and bared teeth made it seem as if she was a hair's breadth away from attacking the elf again.