The left-most door opens easily from this side. You see exactly what you expect to see: a mirror image of the entrance you just came through.
You hear sounds coming through the closed doors to the south. It almost sounds like a fight of some sort. It's very muffled and difficult to hear, but occasionally there's someone shouting, or possibly crying out.
Uriel points at the closed door and cocks his head, doing his best to say Should we check that out? while remaining silent.
Arloric nods.
Uriel tries the door and finds it's not locked. He opens it and reveals a gruesome sight. A very tall, muscular, human woman has just buried a greatsword into a tiefling. Some forty or fifty beds line either side of what appears to be barracks, and a dozen teifling corpses--some without their heads--are splayed across them. There is blood everywhere, all of it fresh.
The woman turns to face you, and her expression is crazed. "You!", she cries out. "YOU! You are responsible! Better they die by my hands than face them, but you are the cause of it all!"
She pulls her sword out of the tiefling. Her crazed expression turns to one of seething rage.
Alexa swallows. "...uh oh..."
The woman unleashes crazed battle cry as she charges towards Uriel.
Her sword slams into him with considerable force, dealing a brutal blow.
Surprised, Uriel nonetheless gets a hold of himself, activates his Righteous Medal of Valor , and counterattacks.
Darya moves forward to strike, the woman's sheer ferocity throwing her off as her attack misses by quite a margin.
Arloric is startled by the sight of the murders and the sudden battle, and instinctively swings his sword at the rampaging woman.
Uriel retaliates, but neither swing hits.
Darya moves to engage but she is unable to connect. On the other side of Uriel, Arloric attacks as well and also fails to land a blow.
For some reason I cannot move my figure. I would like to move it to right below the F 2 squares behind Uriel.
Moving up she fires a splash of acid at the woman
RTA
acid
The acid splashes against the Barbarian and sizzles. It's a mild burn, but a burn nonetheless.
Kemat steps over to Uriel and casts Cure Light Wounds.
Alexa winces, but seeing as how there's a massive logjam at the doors she finds herself unable to do much to help.
"Darya, tighten up. You're overextending your arm." She says by way of battle advice. She then moves to check down the nearby hall to the north in case the sound is attracting more enemies.
The berserker woman continues to pound on Uriel, beating over and over again with her greatsword.
A roar of pain escapes Uriel's lips as the first blow bites. Biting back the pain, he snarls a response "By the General of Vengeance, you fall!" Ragathiel says before launching a reprisal of his own!
Confirm?
Arloric, recognizing their opponent as Kellid like him, gasps.
"An ardódh tú airm i gcoinne do chairde?! Cad a déarfadh bhur sinsir dá bhfeicfí iníon de chuid Sarcóris tar éis titim chomh híseal sin?" he says, hoping the shared blood between them might break through the haze of madness...or at least distract her long enough for the others to take her down.
With the defended doorway acting against them, Darya disengages, dashing over to the other door and throwing it open, providing another point of access into the room.
The wizard concentrates and 4 eldritch bolts erupt from her hands that strike the barbarian, going around the paladin to strike her. The eldritch bolts are in the shape of a silver dragon.
force damage plus intense spells.
Uriel lands one of three blows against the barbarian woman, who grunts as these are followed Telerin's force bolts.
But it's Arloric that she focuses on, her eyes widening as she hears him speaking Hallit. She steps back from the doorway, pointing her sword at him. She seems to calm down a little, though she is still tense and angry.
"Ní thuigeann tú!" she says. "Rugadh mé sa rud atá fágtha de Sarkoris. Ba é seo go léir a bhí againn. Ba é gach rud a bhí againn ag caitheamh isteach leo!
"You don't understand!" she says. "I was born in what's left of Sarkoris. This was all we had. Throwing in with them was all we had!"
Alexa turns and looks at the berserker.
"Bhí sé sin ansin." She says in fluent Hallit. "Anois, tá athrú tagtha ar chúrsaí - tá an ceartas ag teacht ar ais go Sarkoris. Táimid anseo chun rudaí a chur ina gceart!"
Uriel lowers his sword cautiously and takes a half-step back; enough to show good will, but not enough to be out of the fight if things flare up again. He also uses his Lay on Hands to heal some of his rather significant wounds.
The barbarian woman backs away, keeping a watchful eye on Darya on the other doorway. Switching to common, she glances to Arloric and says, "So, kinsman. What do we do now?"
Arloric nods somberly.
"What's done is done...we can't bring back the dead. But we can stop more unnecessary death. All you need to do is wait. We're taking this fortress, and then when it's ours, you can decide what you would like to do next. Tell me your name. I am Arloric, Blood of Dziergas, of the Clan Highbough."
"I am Jestak. I want to believe you can take this place, Arloric. But I will not wait for their punishment in case you fail. This," she says, nearly spitting out the words as she gestures to the dead tieflings behind her "was a kindness.
"I will make a truce with you, kinsman. You leave, and I'll leave. Those are my terms."
"By 'leave,' Jestak, to you mean 'abandon our attempt to take the fort' or just 'let you go and we go our separate ways?' Because we've fought too long and hard in this siege to just give it up."
"I let you go, and we go our separate ways. Maybe this is my chance to leave, while they are busy dealing with you."
"If that is what you feel you must do, I wish you luck." Darya says solemnly.
"Then go in peace, Jestak. May the sky shelter you and the land hold you up," Arloric says with a somber nod.
As you start to leave she calls out, "Arloric. Watch out for the shadow demon. Vhane pretends to be in charge, but it's the demon that is the true power here. You'll find him in the dungeons." She points to the north-northeast.
"Hmm.. another shadow demon. Good to know." Darya mutters.
Jestak gathers up a large pack and bedroll--suggesting she was making plans to leave long before you arrived--and exits the castle through the doors opposite the ones you came in. She seems unconcerned that she is walking outside, where your army has the fortress surrounded.
Checking in since folks have been quiet. You have two doors to the north and a door to the east. There is also a room to the west but it is filled with rubble.
Alexa moves to check the eastern door.
Arloric follows Alexa, trying his best to remain quiet.
Uriel follows Arloric, sword drawn and ready.
The eastern door is unlocked.
Alexa nods and steps aside to let the others through.
This room looks like it was used as a barracks at some point, with beds packed rather tightly in the room. It's been cleared out except for the straw mattresses.
There's a door on the far side of the room that is partly ajar. It looks like it leads to a large storage room, though the shelves and racks you can see through the door appear empty.
>>> Map <<<
Darya sweeps into the room quickly clearing it visually before moving to stand beside the ajar door, ready to charge in once the next room is checked.
Alexa moves to check the next room.