[IC] The Crucible

[Armored Walrus]

The crackling energy leaves Shaena's fingertips and connects with a satisfying crunch against the chest of the bald Watt. His eyes, gleaming white in the gloom of the hole in the ceiling, go wide and he grunts with the impact.

[miinstrel]

Rolling for his crossbow as Haman shouts, he grabs it and immediately nocks an arrow looking for the attackers. Shaena's blast gives his eyes the guidance they need and he follows up with a bolt of his own aimed squarely at Watt's face.

"Get him up, I'll cover you," Mohan shouts at the others.

Spoiler: OOC

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Attack Watt (1d20+6)[10]
Damage: (1d8+4)[7]

Move behind the rock to the north (so essentially right under Haman).

[Armored Walrus]

Despite the clue to Watt's location, Mohander's arrow flies wide, clattering into the rock behind Watt's surprised face. Mohander then dives behind an outcropping of rock. From here, Haman will not be able to see the wood elf, and Watt will have a difficult time aiming at him as well.

Spoiler: OOC

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Mohander, you have half-cover from Watt and total cover from Haman at the moment.

Just as Mohander gains his feet behind his covering rock, you all hear a bellow from the mouth of the cave. The wide form of Lummie barrels at you, silhouetted by the torch Jast has just tossed to the ground near his feet. A double snap of bowstrings heralds two crossbow bolts that zip at Shaena. One bolt, poorly aimed, connects with the floor of the cave before it reaches her and skitters to a stop near her toes. The other rips through her calf, gashing her shin bone on its way.

Spoiler: OOC

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Lummie is dashing forward, Jast and the unnamed guard both fire at Shaena. Shaena is hit once for 2 points of damage. Kyra and Issy are up.

[Fishybugs]

Iselshera Elkian 1st Level Paladin Issy crawls to her knees after falling from the platform, wiping a bit of drool from her face as she looks around. As she surveys the scene she thinks to herself, Who would have thought I could sleep that deeply in a cave....surrounded by potential enemies... As she stands and gathers her weapons, Atas is suddenly struck down by a crossbow. "Atas!" Without thinking, she draws and throws her dagger at Watt....That rat. Once she sees the dagger strike true, she moves herself over to place herself between Atas and Lummie. Spoiler: OOC Show Attack roll: (d20+6)[25] using her advantage on this attack because she really wants to hit him: Advantage roll: (d20+6)[11] Damage: (d8+4)[11] Damage rerolled in Roll 20 due to having to change my attack.

[Armored Walrus]

Issy's hastily thrown dagger takes Watt in the throat. He won't be admiring ancient stonework symbols any more. He tumbles from the upper level and lands with a bone-crunching smack onto the bed of the hand cart.

Spoiler: OOC

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Kyra is up.

[Azktor]

Kyra

As soon as Kyra notice Atas's body falling down to the floor she start screaming in rage her eyes start glowing slightly in a dark orange color, her tatoos (usually just black) around her eyes start getting brighter and brighter in a blue color. All her muscles starts contract growing in size - anyone taking a closer look at her will notice that she even grow a couple inches - she start bashing her axe against her shield furiosity, looking at Lummie.

Next thing she does is to rush toward the nearby enemy, that is Lummie "YOU WILL DIE FOR THIS, COWARD!" She unleshes a swing with her axe.

Spoiler: Actions

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Bonus: Rage
Attack:(1d20+5)[17]
Damage:(1d8+5)[6]

[Armored Walrus]

Kyra's boiling rage fuels her axe strike, and she lays open a gash in Lummie's thigh, splitting through his leather leggings as though they aren't even there. Lummie, in a kind of rage of his own, still winces and squares up with the towering woman.

Atas groans on the ground, but manages to apply some pressure to the arrow wound, staving off the loss of blood for the time being.

Spoiler: OOC

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Initiative Rolls:
Haman: 19
Shaena: 18
Mohander: 16
Atas: 14
Jast, Lummie and no name: 14
Kyra: 11
Issy: 0!

Haman maneuvers above, and gets into a position to get sight on Shaena. Once again, a glittering dust spews down onto the party. Kyra is covered in the glowing stuff, but Shaena and Issy quickly manage to dodge out of the way again.

Spoiler: OOC

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Shaena, Mohander, Atas are up.

Glancing over her shoulder, Issy realizes she's gained enough of an angle that Haman can't see her where she stands.

[miinstrel]

Mohan With Watts dead and his companions making their way toward the entrance, Mohander steps out from behind the rock and taking aim at Haman along the way. "Bad fortune to strike someone who's sleeping and bad fortune to attack a guest in your home. May your curse last two lifetimes!" he reprimands after unleashing the bolt. Spoiler: OOC Show Attack Haman: (1d20+6)[9] Damage: (1d8+4)[8] Move toward others.

[Theoboldi]

Atas

Pain pouding in his head, Atas drags himself up against the nearest backpack, letting his head rest against it as he tries to keep his wound from bleeding. Everything else is too blurry for him to react to currently.

Spoiler: Death Saving Throw

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(1d20)[15]

And that's another successful one. Yay!

[Armored Walrus]

Haman flinches away from Mohander's arrow, but otherwise seems unmoved by his curse. However, it appears that for now, Haman can't get line of sight on anyone in the fight.

[kladams707]

Shaena, with no other recourse after the shot at her, attempts to take respite from behind Mohander. She does however prepare herself with another spark of arcane energy should Haman move to attack.

Spoiler

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Move behind Mohander
Action: Ready reaction to fire eldritch blast when Haman next attacks

(1d20+5)[11]
(1d10)[3]

[Armored Walrus]

Shaena shuffles into position, trying to get the drop on Haman.

Meanwhile, Lummie swings at Kyra with a heavy metal mace. In his hands it moves like a switch, and he quickly slams her in the jaw with a sweeping strike, then immediately backhands her, catching her in the ribs. Two crossbow bolts streak out from the archers crouching at the corner of the tunnel, one embedding itself into Kyra's thigh, and another carving a slice in her bicep. In the midst of her primal rage, she barely notices the damage.

Spoiler: OOC

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Four attacks against the glowing barbarian. All of them hit, for a grand total of 7 damage (resistance already applied)

Kyra and Issy are up.

[Azktor]

Kyra

Kyra keeps the pressure on Lummie, screaming furiosly she raises her shield bashing on the big guy, using all her strength to put him down. With the same movement she swing her axe once again, but going wide.

Spoiler: Actions

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Move: None, unless enemy is down.
Bonus: Shove the enemy using the shield, with Advantage due Raging (grants Advantage on Strength checks)
-> Kyra's Athletics (1d20+5)[13] A (1d20+5)[21] vs enemy Athletics or Acrobatics (1d20)[11] to make it Prone
Attack: (1d20+5)[7] A (1d20+5)[7]
Damage: (1d8+5)[6]

[Armored Walrus]

Issy kneels at Atas' side, brushing her golden hair from her face. She gently cups his sweating face between her hands and says, "Stay with us a bit longer, wanderer. There is so much more for us to discover here."

Atas feels an immediate cooling sensation around his wound. Issy deftly twists the bolt, releasing its barb from the wood elf's skin, and draws it from the wound. Atas suddenly feels strong enough to stand, and Issy moves to flank Lummie.

Shaena barely notices the exchange while she keeps a sharp eye out for their assailant from above. Her attention is rewarded by a flash of a red robe, and she unleashes the arcane energy she had been holding at bay. The bolt leaps from her hand and staves in Haman's chest. He collapses through the hole, and his smoking corpse begins to float down the stream, facedown.

Spoiler: OOC

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Nice! 10 damage from the EB finishes off Haman. Mo, Shaena and Atas are up.

[Theoboldi]

Atas

Atas gets up with a rasp, rattled but alive. It takes him a moment to get back onto his feet and grab his quarterstaff, but it's not enough to stop him for long.

Seeing that Kyra has got Lummie pinned, he opts to go after the two crossbowmen, dashing into the cave's natural darkness that to his elven eyes provides no obstacle. Attempting to utilize the cave wall and darkness as cover, he approaches his enemies in a circle to better avoid getting hit again.

Spoiler: OOC

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Spending 15 feet of movement to get up, and then Dashing to move about 50 feet to where I'm standing now. Hooray for Wood Elves getting extra speed, even if I don't have my monk speed increases yet!

Now to watch me go down again.

[miinstrel]

Mohan "Nice work, Shaena!" the wood elf calls out, spinning around and focusing attention elsewhere. Jast glimmered in the torchlight as he drew another arrow. He could probably make the shot, but Lummie was so distracted by the two warriors he wasn't paying any mind to Mohander. Steading his weapon, he unleashes a bolt at Lummie's neck. Spoiler: OOC Show Attack Lummie: (1d20+6)[25] Damage: (1d8+4)[10] + sneak (1d6)[2] Moved toward cave entrance.

[Armored Walrus]

Mohander's shot easily penetrates the leather armor worn by Lummie, sinking deep into his side. The big man looks severely wounded, and suddenly far less sure of himself.

[Armored Walrus]

Shaena eyes her options, quickly calculating that she's better off taking a shot at the unknown archer, rather than trying to shoot at a prone target. She releases a bolt, which shatters the wooden crossbow in the guard's hands, then goes on to blast against his chest.

The archer's jaw drops open and his face pales. He quickly kicks the torch into the river, dousing the light, and you hear booted feet sprinting away up the tunnel. You hear a clang of metal hitting the stone floor and another pair of feet beating a hasty retreat.

Lummie struggles to his knees, wipes the blood from his lip, looks up at Kyra, and drops his mace on the floor.

[Theoboldi]

Atas

Atas comes to a screeching halt at the entrance of the cave, watching the archers run away in the darkness. He's thankful for Shaena's attack, as he's not sure whether he would have survived his heedless charge, but at the same time somewhat miffed that his contribution to this battle wasn't.

With an annoyed 'hmph' at the cowardice of these two wannabe thieves, he grabs his sling from his belt, snatches up a nearby stone, and flings it lazily after the more injured of the two. "Fools." he mutters no matter the result of his throw, before returning to the rest of the group.

Spoiler: OOC

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(1d20+4)[11] sling attack for (1d4+2)[4] damage.

Potential Advantage since I can see them in the darkness but they can't see me? (1d20+4)[13]

"I must thank you, Iselshera. You prevented me from leaving my learning unfinished."

[kladams707]

Shaena watches as Atas fires into the darkness. After they all gather she begins to ponder aloud Wonder what's valuable here or just what they were doing that they wanted us killed...

[miinstrel]

Mohan "There's more to these caves than old spider legs, that's for sure," Mohan replies excitedly recalling Haman and the rest of his team's shifty answers. An arrow still nocked but not drawn, Mohander moves to the cave entrance and glances about into the darkness, leaning around the stone wall to peer up into the sniper's perches flanking the door above. "Coast looks clear out here," he calls back, intent on moving upstairs once everyone's ready now that the former occupants have vacated.

[Armored Walrus]

Haman's body continues to slowly wash downstream.

Atas' stone launches after the fleeing archer and takes him in the back of the head, he drops bonelessly, face down in the mud. Jast continues fleeing as fast as his feet can carry him.

When Mohander and Atas meet in the tunnel they notice a well-crafted shield. The body appears to be carved from a single large chunk of oak, and then clad in steel. The boss in the center is shaped like an eye, which seems to glare at the two elves as they move around in the tunnel.

[Fishybugs]

Iselshera Elkian 1st Level Paladin Issy smiles at Atas. "We're all in this together." She looks around the cave a few moments. Let's be on the lookout in case these guys return. There's really no place to go outside of here....We haven't seen the whole place, really. We should take a look around. Someone might want to grab Haman...I think he had a magical wand on him...or something."

[Theoboldi]

Atas

Atas returns Issy's smile for a moment, before returning to a more stoic expression. It's clear he has a hard time showing emotion, but his effort seems genuine. When the moment has passed, however, he is quick to duck down and pick up the shield, carefully weighing it in his hand.

"This seems to be of good craftsmanship." he says, turning to the surviving Lummie. "Whose shield is this and why didn't you use it?"

Should nobody else move to pick up Haman's corpse as he speaks, Atas will not wait for the answer and instead listen to it as he moves down the river to drag the body out onto shore.

Spoiler: OOC

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Just wanna make sure we don't miss the loot cause none of us pick it up.

[miinstrel]

Mohan As the others get things in order below, Mohander slips up the stone steps to the furnished area above and does a quick sweep through Haman's room, the dining area, and finally the cave with the platform winch. Assuming the area is seemingly vacated he calls down to the others after they're done interrogating Lummie, "Coast is clear up here for now. Hop on the platform and I'll haul you up. Safer to finish the night up here than down there I reckon." Spoiler: OOC Show If you need any checks here... Stealth (1d20+8)[24] Perception (1d20+7)[26] Thieves Tools for front door lock? (1d20+6)[16]

[Armored Walrus]

Atas inspects the shield. Close up, it's excessively decorated, with silvered filigree scrawled across the otherwise smooth steel surface. The eye is morbidly detailed, down to red veins, slightly yellowed whites, and a purple iris. As the elf holds it in his hand he feels an enhanced awareness of his surroundings.

Fishing Haman's corpse from the slow-moving stream, Atas' first attention goes to the slim leather sheath that had held the human's wand. It is, of course, empty, since Haman was using it during the battle. Other than this prize, he seems to have little of value on him. His rich robe is ruined by his death and his fall. The amulet of the broken crown might be of some small value.

Meanwhile, Lummie stammers a response to the elf's question. "Jast wanted it. I don't mind gettin' hit as much as he does. He says I'm too dumb to feel it anyway."

Mohander swiftly makes his way upstairs, verifying that, of the known guards of this place, only Jast escaped, and the rest lie dead. He ensures the crow's nests are empty, save for a lit brazier and small stack of crossbow bolts in each, notes serviceable furniture in Haman's "office", and then makes his way to the winch. The former contents of the cart are stacked neatly near the hole in the floor.

Spoiler: Cart inventory.

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bolt of common cloth (4 sq yd, 20gp)
4 bottles common wine (2 sp each)
2 barrels ale Stamped with Longtooth name (8 gp each)
1lb salt (5 cp)
25 sacks flour (2 cp each)
1 dozen mess kits (2 sp each)
2 tents (2 gp each)
1 set of carpenter's tools (8 gp)
1 set of fine clothes (15 gp)

[kladams707]

Shaena hurries herself over to Atas upon being reminded of the wand. May I take a look at that, she asks politely though trying to hold back her enthusiasm. Upon learning the sheath was empty,
she shrugs halfheartedly and joins the otherrs currently in their interrogation.

Spoiler

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Knowledge arcana?

(1d20+4)[11]

[Theoboldi]

Atas

Atas stops Shaena as she walks away from him by putting a hand on her shoulder, then points her towards the shield.

"I feel there may be greater power in that item. Wielding it would just slow me down, but Iselshera or Kyra may be make use of it."

[Armored Walrus]

Lummie shifts on his knees, glancing over his shoulder at the cave entrance.

[Fishybugs]

Iselshera Elkian 1st Level Paladin Issy's attention shifts to Lummie as he makes a little noise. "Don't think about it, Lunky," She draws and flings a dagger at the man in warning. Spoiler: OOC Show Attack: (d20+6)[25] for [/roll]d4+4[/roll] damage.