March 4th

Rory bumrushes into the smoke for the first of either Zeiss or Javan he sees, knife in hand, to usher toward a spot positioning the smoke between them and the guards, mind racing as he hacks at the bindings to free the captive as quickly as he can--hacking at the binds of the other if left unattended by Higaide--before turning his ear in the direction of one of the guards whom he perceived to be the leader, contemplating an action to take upon freeing the captives.

"Who leads?" he mutters hoarsely to Zeiss when in proximity, who had just shouted in the state language. "I could clock 'im, shake their unity."

OOC:

Rolls:

OOC:

If he can see well enough to do so, Kolson will aim a Fire 7 spell (one less mana, 1d10 extra damage) at up to 4 soldiers without hitting civilians or his own allies.

A Holy Radiance bathes the area, granting all allies +1 to all non damaging rolls for the next 18 seconds. One of the Sclavi soldiers runs out of the smoke, screaming in terror.

Higaide and Rory both rush in. Higaide is quickly pierced by a clumsy blow that feels like it wasn't meant for him (12 damage), and a few more whifs and stabs at the air around them indicates the soldiers are currently stabbing blindly at whatever is in front of them. Rory manages to find the Elf and Elefairy prone on the ground, currently shackled in thick iron chains around their hands and feet, a bit too strong to break with strength or weapons alone. At about this time Higaide manages to grab the Moarsman who stabbed him and try to hurtle him blindly in the smoke at another attacker, though is uncertain if he hit anyone he did succeed in flinging the Moarsman.

Kolson has yet to find any targets of opportunity from his perch as the smoke has not cleared sufficiently yet, save for one Sclavi guard rushing out of the smoke screaming.

I'll bide my time and ready an action to nuke any soldiers trying to fight our group. Same deal as before: Fire 7 spell (one less mana, 1d10 extra damage) at up to 4 soldiers without hitting civilians or my own allies.

Rory hoarsely mutters an expletive when his knife collides with the iron chains. He grabs at them and tests their strength against his grip, but gives up at no avail, strapped for time. Presently a thought returns to him, a light shining so bright it could practically be seen glowing from behind his eyes.

"The...thing!" he sputtered in a hoarse tone, pressing Higaide. "The steel vial! Please tell me you've got it."

to Rory: "You might melt their legs off, if you poured it like that."

*Takes the spear and puts it in Javan's hands.

to Javan: "Take off. We'll cover you and take care of Zeiss."

Zeiss tries to get up on his feet on his own and prepares his Air Vent power, planning to use Advoc's vision to guide him out of the smoke and towards Kolson's location.

OOC:

Rory drew his weapon and focused on the pulse in his head, and the dozen or so things that bugged him in the past few days, from tacky peeves to the memory of defending his "home". And pigeons. He took an offensive stance with the killing tool, ready to make a golfer swing. He leaned forward in preparation for a headlong charge, anticipating the next hostile target to become visible, feeling self-assured that he was going to ruin their day.

Rory is Enraged!

Actions:

Javan, bewildered, looks for any target outside of the smoke to Jump to and spots the soldier who went running previously, leaping out and hitting him though doing minimal damage in the process. Javan succeeds on his rolls to not tumble to the ground in a heap, but lands a bit badly and loses his next round recovering from prone, still shackled.

By now the smoke has basically dispersed to the point where it no longer conceals anyone. The crowd of civilians, already spooked, sees the events transpiring and quickly devolves into a frightened mob, pushing over one another to get away from the scene as quickly as possible.

Zeiss has no real difficulties flying up into the air for the 9 rounds he has Flight, making his way to the second story window where Kolson awaits, weaving around the flames that Kolson hurtles Fire 7 at four of the soldiers present, hitting them for 31 Fire damage total. Rory, spotting the nearest enemy to him, manages to get the drop on him by Charging him and knocking him prone with a successful Strength check. He roars, though the soldiers seem unfazed.

One of the soldiers, who does not appear particularly different from the others, shouts "Kill the two deformed Elves, then the prisoners!" They all get strikes in, splitting their attacks between Rory and Higaide. Some of them miss, but most land, doing a total of 45 damage to Higaide and 59 to Rory.

Advoc approaches silently the battle, tightening his grip on both of his swords. He now stands near Rory, whose rage contrasts firmly with his own composure. All of a sudden, Advoc starts to hover in the air, surrounds himself with a shell of light while bright white pillars in the form of his own swords appear around him.

OOC:

Kolson will use Cure 7 on Higaide (one less mana) and use one use of Double Cast to throw another Fire 7 (one less mana, 1d10 extra damage) at the same 4 soldiers if possible.

I'll leave the smoke bombs to you guys.

For two rounds, Advoc goes wild and starts flinging blades of Light at the soldiers, managing to Down two of them. Kolson cures Higaide for 27, then manages to hit the soldiers again for 18 Fire damage each during the first round of this volley.

Zeiss is still trying to unlock his chains with his lockpick.

OOC:

Having taken several hits, Rory went on the defensive. After a quick glance over his shoulder, taking a mental note of a flanking enemy, he otherwise continued his assault on the enemy he had felled, however with less zeal.

actions:

Higaide makes note of the enemy positions in front of him, and lobs his last smoke bomb at where they're concentrated the most, preparing to dash in right after it.

Actions:

Rory pummels his way into the prone Soldier, managing a total of 38 damage against the individual, who barely manages to return to his feat during the assault.

Zeiss grabs whatever he has nearby to try and open the lock on his chains, repeatedly, to no avail.

Higaide, nodding to himself, hurls the smoke bomb at his feet as he and his compatriot are effectively surrounded by all but one of the soldiers. He manages to charge one of the Moarsman, but partially fails at grappling him, instead merely occupying the soldier's time costing him his next round.

The remaining soldiers, shocked at the brutality of the 'Elf', begin focusing their attacks upon him, striking him for a total of 48 damage. One of the remaining declines to engage, instead moving to flank the other 'Elf' and attempts but fails to strike Higaide, supporting his comrade who is currently in grapple with him.

Rory did not stop. He grimaced as blades carved into his flesh, growling in pain and rage-fueled indignation. The brief respite for the enemy, the interval of pulling his "punches", was over. He returned his full focus on smiting him dead already, the enemy unfortunate to have his attention first. "You cannot!" he bellowed. "He will die, and all of you with him!"

actions:

Unable to unlock his chains, Zeiss decides to focus his efforts elsewhere. He spots the one he assumes is the leader of this unit and in an effort to help Rory and Higaide, he yells at him :

"The shattersticks they wear will explode if you kill them!"

OOC:

Clearly, a heavily armored opponent was not the easiest thing in the world to toss around, Higaide quickly noted. Still, considering the life-or-death nature of his immediate success or failure in throwing his heavily armored opponent at his counterpart, currently engaged in trying to run him through, committing every ounce of his strength to the task seems like a very worthy pursuit.

action:

Zeiss' knowledge of politics can tell him that the leader of the group is, in fact, the one who fled screaming from his earlier attack right at the start of combat. Nevertheless he convinces one of the engaging soldiers to Stall successfully. Meanwhile, Advoc has been frenzily destroying everything he sees, managing to severely wound two of the soldiers currently crowding around Rory.

Rory barely manages to concentrate enough to unleash a fully volley of blows on one of his assaulters, bringing him to Downed, leaving 2 on Rory and 2 on Higaide.

For his part, Higaide burns everything to roll a total of a 12 in throwing the Sclavi.

Fortunately for him, the officer who was fleeing has just now recovered and shouts some brief orders in Serpent, and the four remaining soldiers make a combative withdraw and begin running full tilt towards the west.

The party regroups down in the street while Advoc casts for one last time Holy Radiance on the fleeing soldiers. Zeiss then says in a tense tone:

"I wasn't able to take off these chains. Frigging lockpick. Higaide? Could you search these two soldiers on the ground for a key? And if they're not dead, I would suggest that you stabilize them. They were only following orders after all."

At this moment, I suspect that Rory will suggest that we use the acid, which Zeiss would agree with.

If successful, the party will then make their way towards the Tipsy Princess, where the confiscated equipment is.

OOC:

"No, their lives are forfeit," Rory huffed, squatting to search the soldier in front of him. His blood cooled down to a simmer. "Join the Vyeotians and you forfeit your life. This message must not go unenforced, ever. Higgs, acid."

ooc:

"You have acid? Let's try it."

OOC:

*Tosses the Acid vial to Rory.

"Get him somewhere safe first, and be careful with that."

*Moves to check the soldiers for keys. Also, lifesigns.

Action:

Rory lingered at the body a moment, then picked up the acid and grabbed Zeiss by the chains around his arms/hands, dragging the poor elf into the building Kolson was perched in, and then hauled Javan inside as well, finding a spot that could be considered "safe".

"Sit still," he ordered as he opened the vial, pouring acid on the loose chain links between Zeiss' and Javan's feet, doing his best to focus on being precise.

ooc: