Turn 55 -- Battle in KeepTurn 55 -- Battle in KeepStruggling to free himself from the assorted debris on the floor, Beleg rises and draws his sword. He checks to see if Garth is also getting to his feet. Seeing that this is the case, he turns to face the oncoming warriors. With a mighty yell of "Red Feather Company, to me!" he moves towards them.
"Let us see how you honorless cowards fight against someone who's prepared to defend himself!" roars Beleg as he presses the attack, focusing his attention on the man in front of him.
Garth gets up from the ground and continues to fan his enemies with his mace in the hope that one of them will stumble into his mighty fanlike swings. All the while he calls down the wrath of Lady Selune upon his enemies with his favorite phrase, "Die you godless evils!"
Outside in the courtyard:
Upon hearing the mighty warrior's call to arms, Kersath quickly shouts to anybody that might have not heard the door smash in, "Come on! We got some bandit cleaning to do!" He then rushes as quickly as possible to the doorway and enters to help his comrades.
"Razzle-frazzle, an empty room!" exclaims Ortho as he and Druckner kick in another door. Cocking his head to the side, he hears Beleg's call to arms, "Hmmm, it seems friend Beleg has had better luck. Let's be off!" With axe in hand, he and Druckner head to the doorway as well.
Before heading into the room, Randor bends down and picks up three small, smooth stones. He cups them in his hand and slowly chants over them before speaking a word of power. He then pulls out his sling as he makes his way to the doorway.
With a sigh, Kre smiles and nods to Ras, "Boy, Beleg sure knows how to pick the doors...here we go again!" He then pulls out two wicked-looking daggers and moves toward the doorway to cover the backs of the front-line party members.
Ras smiles at Kre as he draws forth a dagger in each hand as well, following the young thief toward the doorway.
Dain looks to Talimar, "Shall we assist friend? A spell or two may be in order." Talimar nods to Dain, although he is obviously concerned about rushing into another battle in his weakened state; not wanting to leave his companions to fight alone though, he follows Dain.
Seeing the giant paladin crumble the door into splinters, Gnore prepares the fush forward into possible battle but stops at the last moment.
"No, we have accepted the guard of the company. If anything, we will bring up the rear." Gnore says this more for his sake than Lyntern's. The boy only shakes his head as he is in no rush to get into combat again.
As Dain and Talimar walk past him into the room, Gnore turns to look into the room. Seeing that the entrance is crowded with his comrades, he looks over to Lyntern and shouts with fire in his eyes, "Lyntern! Turn ye back to me and keep watch on yer side. Yell out if you have foes to thrash and I'll help ye if need be. When the doorway is clear, I'll give a shout and we'll rush in." Gnore then turns his back on the boy and keeps watch for any foes who have ideas of trying to move in behind the company from outside.
Back inside the room, Beleg and Garth are now fully engaged with the four men from before and a small skirmish line has formed. Just as the other Red Feather members come through the doorway, a door at the north end of the room shatters. The companions intuned to the ways of magic sense the release of magical energy as the door bursts into splinters. Rushing through the doorway are others denizens of evil. A force of two skeletons, two zombies and two orcs rush forward into the room to join their other comrades. Last to enter the room is what appears to be another underling thief and proudly striding into the room is the one-eyed man from the attack on the shores of the Churnett River. He looks over the party and the battle before him and a large smile comes across his evil face.
Upon seeing the man with the eye patch, Dain's knees grow weak. "A nightmare in the flesh!" he gasps. "By my father's name you shall plague me no longer!" With that Dain takes a pinch of sand out of a small pouch at his side and tosses it into the air. Drawing in the energy needed, he points toward the man and speaks a word of power, hoping to put the man to sleep. Feeling the flow of energy from his body, Dain knows that the spell should have worked but the man only turns his one eye toward Dain and gives a hearty laugh!
The man then points toward Dain and Talimar, "Those two, I want them alive!"
Shaking, Dain tries to gather his composure as he tries to speak to the others, "Brother Randor, Garth can you do anything about these foul fiends?" Seeing that they are heavily engaged themselves, he decides on another course of action, "Forward Company of the Red Feather. May the Light shine on us!"
As soon as the orcs burst into the room, Kersath shouts to the ranger Kuiper and to Randor, "Kuiper! Randor! The orcs in the back, come with me!" He then tries to make his way across the room to engage the orcs, Kuiper moving right behind him. His passage is quickly blocked by one of the humans moving forward to take a swing at him. Kersath fortunately dodges the blow though. Seeing their route blocked, Kuiper draws his bow and sights one of the advancing zombies. He releases two quick arrows, the first sailing away harmlessly but the second catches the denizen of the dark in what once was its left eye. The creature's head snaps back from the force of the arrow and it falls to the ground, moving no longer.
Ortho pulls forth a small silver hammer from a chain about his neck and turning to the undead coming toward the group cries out, "Moraddin Soul-Forger, banish these soulless ones from the sight of your faithful servant!" The room goes still for a moment and then all the members of the Red Feather Company have a strong feeling of peace rush over them. Following this, the two skeletons turn from the sight of Ortho and move to leave the room back through the north door. The last zombie is undeterred as it continues on toward the group.
"Alright Ortho!" yells Kre from the back of the room as he stops his tirade of curses about the undead. He then yells out a battle-cry, more for effect than anything as he moves to a better position to protect Dain and Talimar.
At the front lines, Beleg takes a deep cut from the longsword of the fighter before him that slipped through his guard. To his right, Druckner pushes forward and engages the tall thief that had been attacking Beleg. He misses the man twice with his battle-axe as he deftly moves out of the range of the dwarf. Garth takes a cut from the sword of the thief in front of him as the line has become crowded and Kuiper takes a blow from the zombie that moved forward to engage him as well.
Garth dodges a blow from a cowardly thief to his right and he returns the blow from the first man that hit him only moments before, his mace smashing down on the thiefs left arm. Garth smiles as he hears the sound of bone breaking from the force of his blow. Beleg once again misses the fighter before him but Kersath is luckier as one of his blades sneaks through the defense of the theif before him, opening up a deep gash on the mans thigh.
From the back of the room, Randor swings his sling over his head several times, the motion causing a whirring noise as the magical stones in the sling pick up speed. With a quick release, the stones fly through the air toward the remaing zombie. The first two miss, but the third strikes the zombie fully in the chest. Kuiper takes the momentary diversion to fire at the vile creature. An arrow follows the stone and thuds into the chest of the undead beast, sending it toppling over backwards, never to rise again.
To the north, the one-eyed man closes his one eye and begins to draw in the magical energy needed for a spell. After a few moments, he looks over at the party and points toward Dain, Talimar, and Randor. Speaking a word of release, the energy flows through him and the air between them all becomes alive for an instant. Just as quickly, Talimar and Randor become rigid as they are magical held under the power of the man.
Gnore begins to spew forth an un-ending flow of curses at the enemy caster and decides to charge forward toward the man. His path is quickly blocked by one of the human fighters who has shield and sword ready. Undaunted, Gnore utters a curse and swings his mighty bastard sword at the fool in front of him. Surprised by the severity of the attack, the man is unable to get either his sword or shield up in time as Gnore's mighty sword comes down to strike him clean across his chest. The man quickly falls to the ground dead as his cracked and broken ribs are exposed to the air.
Kersath sidesteps another swing from the fighter before him as the one-eyed caster in the back of the room releases the energy to cast another spell. There is no immediate effect of the spell as the others continue the battle. From the back of the room, Ras finally decides to take action and moves through the congested front lines to the back of the room. Jumping on the huge table to the east, he seizes his moment of surprise and throws both daggers at the large orc before him. Both daggers find their mark in the beast and with a howl of pain, it falls to the ground, twitching momentarily before it comes to a sudden stop. It's comrade stares at the dead body for a moment before moving forward to try and smash Ras on the table with his large club. The nimble halfing easily dodges the clumsy blow from the orc though.
Across the room, Ortho and Garth both press the attack on their foes but are unable to land a telling blow. Growing weary, Beleg is unable to get his sword up in time and takes a minor cut from the sword of the small thief before him. Furious, Beleg shakes off the blow and brings his mighty weapon down, crashing into the shoulder of the thief. Blood flows everywhere as arteries are severed. The man slides to the ground, dead. Lyntern stays in the back of the room, maintaining his watch on the rear of the party.
Now double-teamed, Garth takes another blow from the thief to his right. He begins to tire himself as blood flows freely from a number of wounds on his body.
Seeing that Talimar and Randor are going nowhere in their current state, Kre seizes the opporunity afforded by Beleg killing his foe to rush through the front line and assist his friend Ras. With a mighty cry, he throws both his daggers at the orc. The first strikes the beast on the right side of his chest while the second whizzes through the air to strike the wall behind the orc.
Druckner launches another offensive on the man before him but again is unable land a telling blow. His opponent is much luckier though as he sneaks in an attack under the stout dwarf, opening up a small cut on Druckner's right thigh. Druckner grimaces from the pain as this was his previously injured leg.
With a cry to Moraddin, Ortho swings his mighty axe once again and this time the force of his blow sends his opponents sword crashing to the ground. The axe continues on forward to strike the man deeply in his left leg. His eyes roll back in his head as the blood flows freely from the wound. He drops to the ground unconscious.
Garth is hit once again with another minor knick, this time on his right arm, but the loss of blood is beginning to effect him as he is primarily on the defensive now.
Drawing another dagger from his belt at his side, Ras leaps back out of the range of the club of the orc and launches the weapon at him. The orc dodges the dagger though and moves around to swing the mighty club at the halfling once again. Luckily for the halfling, he again jumps just out of the range of the weapon.
Kersath and the fighter before him exchange another series of strikes with one another. Kersath easily deflects the blow of man as he sees his opponent tiring before him. With the sword in his left hand, he disarms the fighter just as the sword in his right hand comes around to strike the man deeply in his left abdomen. The man clutches the sword in pain before slowly sliding off to fall to the ground unconscious.
To Kersath's left, Beleg turns on the man attacking Garth and swings a series of deadly blows at the thief. The first misses the mark, but his second strikes the man deeply on his off-arm. Just at this time, the caster in the north of the room releases another flow of energy that he had been gathering and pointing at Beleg, cries "Flee!"
Unable to resist the magical command of the enemy, Beleg turns from the battle and rushes out the west door into the courtyard again, rushing as fast as his feet will carry him.
Ortho dodges a blow from the thief to his right as Druckner launches another attack with his great axe at the thief before him. With a mighty yell, the axe finds a resting place in the leg of the man. Screeching from the pain, the man clutches at his leg futilely as he falls to the ground unconscious.
Seeing that the battle is not going well for his men, the one-eyed man decides that discretion is the better part of valor and quickly rushes out the door he and his companions had entered earlier. With their leader gone, the remaining thief and the orc begin to back toward the door as well.
From across the room, Gnore sniffs the air for a moment stopping dead in his tracks. Turning in Ras' direction, he spies the orc he had previously omitted. He turns toward the orc and with sword pointed at the green-skinned beast bellows, "Foul Creature!!! How dare you hide yourself in the shadows from me, you dung-swallower!!! Come here and be killed like the festering wound on a goat's ass that you are!!! No, stay there you orcish blight, I will come to you!!!" With that he screams at the orc once again and charges around the table to swing his bastard sword at the foul beast. The sword comes down on the orcs left arm and with a sickening crunch, the arm falls limply at its side, now useless. The orc falls to one knee from the force of the blow, but seeing it's time honored enemy before it, draws on some inner strength to rise and return Gnore's blow. It swings the huge club at Gnore, trying to smash the dwarf's skull and end the battle quickly. Gnore swats the club away by quickly brining his sword upward, sending the club spinning across the room. Kuiper ends the combat quickly though with a sickening thud as twin arrows protrude from the orcs head. The orc stares momentarily at Gnore dumbfounded before falling forward to the ground.
The last thief decides that a hasty retreat is better than a fighting withdrawal and tosses some strange bag onto the ground before him. As the bag strikes the floor, a quick flash of light is seen and smoke quickly fills up the space before him. As the smoke clears, the thief is nowhere to be seen. The only sign of his passage is the slam of the door to the north leading from the room.