Rolf looks over the carnage before him briefly before kneeling down and giving one of the men's pockets a once over.  Being guards it would seem to him it's possible they might have a set of keys, or something written down that his group may need.  He ignores their weapons and bolts.  At least for now.  Time is of the essence and these items he doesn't really need.

Finding nothing of note he stands as he hears a woman scream tersely in a language he does not understand.  Nor does he recognize the screamer.  It's certainly not one of the three women in his group.

"We have to get up there right now." Rolf says as he puts his shield away to free up both his hands.  He gives Gustav a quick eye.

"I'd cast flight on myself, but between my gear and yours, and your own weight, I might not be able to get you up to the top.  I'm smaller and lighter than you.  I know you can get me the landing.  I'll have to cast it on you." he adds as he starts to cast.

OOC:  With Gustav injured I would cast Flight on myself but my best educated guess is I don't think I would be able to carry him up.  It's likely it would be over my max.  I'll cast Flight on Gustav instead with the expectation he would carry me instead.  I assume we'd use a mutual bear hug for grip.

Gustav grabs a couple of bolts, then stands, ready to grab Rolf and fly up.


11:47, Today: Gustav Du Meseries rolled 2 using 1d4 with rolls of 2.  Grab Bolts

Eager to get something from the bodies, Gustav stays stooped on his knees for a moment, grabbing the two nearest bolts before he pushes himself back to his feet.

As for Rolf, he drops his large buckler onto its loop on his back and begins to cast.

"Fuga!"  The mage shouts, placing a hand on Gustav, who feels his feet and body suddenly become lighter than air.  The swordsman wraps his arms around his friend, the tip of the bolts in his hands putting subtle pressure in Rolf's wormskin armor.

Above, the fight begins in earnest.

Stepping ahead from the dripping puddle of gore below her, Sajaa takes in her foes, their weapons, and their armors.  At first glance, these fighters were no slouches... nor were they intoxicated as Sheik Aarif had been.  She longs to charge them, to let their blood upon the floor, but even as she contemplates her tactics, the two men at the for charge her their own weapons held aloft with malice.

"Ha!"  Sajaa shrieks as the closest man, the one with the mail and the mace as she thrusts her sword into his face!  The attack unnerves the man, his shield coming high and outside to ward off the blow even as he strikes with his own weapon.  But Sajaa grins with ecstasy as she neatly sidesteps the blow.  Her feint had taken the man completely off guard, and it is child's play to take advantage of the man's imbalance to rake her sword across the length of the man's exposed weapon hand.

Blood flashes from the wound, and the man shouts with surprise, though he does not lose his grip on his weapon.  Instead he re-centers his weight, and readies his shield, waiting for a better opening to come.

The swordsman too, lunges towards Sajaa, slashing his weapon towards her chest.  Sajaa neatly slaps the blade away with her own, though she is surprised when the man follows the attack up with his shoulder and shield crashing ahead towards her!

Sajaa jumps back to avoid the blow, though her heel catches on the dead body at her feet!  Sajaa's limbs cartwheel for a moment as she struggles to regain her balance, her feet kicking into the corpse as she quicksteps backwards.  With gargantuan effort, Sajaa retains her balance, flicking her sword out towards the man in mail again.  And while the man's shield follows this strike as well to fend it away, something tells Sajaa this feint was not nearly as effective as the first.

Twang!  Thunk!  Terri's bow unloads, her arrow smashing upon the shield of the swordsman as she curses in frustration and draws her knife.

OOC:  While Rolf and Gustav can't see what's happening above yet, we are going to get there in the very near future.  They are both still at the bottom of the gorge, though the flight spell was successful.  Rolf is empty handed, Gustav has two crossbow bolts in his right hand.  Both are now bear hugging and preparing to rise up to the platform above (they are currently off the map).

Sajaa managed a moderate cut to the mace holder's right (mace) hand, though unfortunately crit failed a DX roll to keep her feet as she retreated over the dead body.  I used a hero point to keep her from falling over.  She has a modestly successful feint against the mace holder for the next turn.  Please note your quickly diminishing fatigue on your character sheet.

Lisa has successfully cast fireball.  She how holds a two point fireball in her left hand and her sword in her right.

Terri has her bow in her left hand and her knife in her right.

Lastly, please reference that the edge of the map is coincident with the edge of the cliff.  Terri and Lisa cannot retreat, Sajaa has one more left without closing back ground with the bad guys.

Let's try to do another 3 seconds.

Rolf is unclear as to what is happening above, but it doesn't take too much imagination that fighting is occurring and that they are needed.

FUGA the mage utters with a wave of his hand as he brings forth the mana for his spell.  It drains him, but he doesn't think about that now.  Time is off the essence and the lives of his friends are at stake.

Grabbing hold of Gustav he takes the man in a bear hug and wraps his hand around his chest, locking his hands together on the other side.

"Ready." he says simply.  "Drop me somewhere up there."

Rising up as quickly as he dares, Gustav looks for a place to land,the crowd at the opening is tight and he looks for a spot to the side, where he lets go of Rold and readies Saber and main gauche.

12:52, Today: Gustav Du Meseries rolled 5 using 3d6 with rolls of 1,2,2.  Fast draw Knife.
12:52, Today: Gustav Du Meseries rolled 10 using 3d6 with rolls of 3,4,3.  Fast draw Saber.

In her zeal to commence the fighting, Sajaa has gotten ahead of her two Sisters and finds herself facing both men…  She is first to draw blood on the maceman and pulls him off his guard but is nearly barreled over by the other man’s shield rush.  She is forced back, stumbling over a dead body, and finding herself backing into her comrades…

”Lisa go alyassar...er... LEFT! Terri, right!” Sajaa shouts in accented Anglish…
This message was last edited by the player at 22:56, Thu 17 Nov 2022.

Lisa lobs the fireball at the guy indicated by Sajaa and takes a pace forwards.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:40, Thu 17 Nov 2022.

In the grand scheme of things, Sajaa has not had her sword for long.  It was not even two months hence that she slew her husband, Sheik Aarif al-Jalali and stole the sword from his bloated corpse.  But Sajaa has practiced.  Endlessly.  She knows the sword as well as any fighter, as well as she knows her own body.  It seems only natural for her to take advantage of her opponent's brief imbalance, to punish his failure to know his swordplay.

But something is wrong... the sweat from her palm slickens her grip and her blade misses...  She grips all the harder, torques her arm, and lashing her arm in rapid motion for another blow but she cannot seem to hold the sword steady!  It turns in her grip, defying her intentions and slipping out of her hand and towards the ground behind her where it clangs against the stone before falling to its side!

The man with the mace grins with malice as he hurls his own weapon forward in a massive overhand swing.  Disarmed and irate, Sajaa dances backwards, out of reach of the weapon, her sword now lying at her feet though her heels are dangerously close to the edge...

"Shit!"  Terri screeches as she slashes her knife at the swordsman, though her blow too cannot seem to make it past the man's thick shield.  The man grins and lashes out his own sword, though Terri manages to evade the blow with a boxers bob just below the swing.

Lisa perhaps has the best luck of all, lunging her left arm around with her fireball at point-blank range, but even she cannot seem to get past the thick wooden aegis of the man with the mace.  Still, when the fire hits the rim, it erupts into orange, licking tendrils, which engulfs the face of the shield in a near-instant inferno.

"The fuck!"  The man with the mace swears, stepping back and attempting to fling his shield down, though the straps cling tightly to his arm.

Twang!

The sound of bow-fire breaks through the bedlam, causing bolts of panic in each of the fighters as their eyes shoot to the woman in the tunnel.

Sajaa has the best view...  and though she struggles to get her shield up in time, it seems that in this moment, her body is simply not responding to her.

The arrow tears through the flesh of Sajaa's bicep, the arrow tearing all the way through the flesh and just exiting on the other side.  Sajaa's mind explodes with pain, though she grits her teeth and forces it back... willing herself to keep her feet here on the edge of the cliff!

Down below, Gustav's body is magically enhanced to be lighter than air, and he thrusts off the ground, hoping to make quick time up to the top...  But the weight pulling down on him is too much... his own gear and Rolf's extra form to boot.  To his consternation, the two of them rise up infuriatingly slow.

OOC:  That was one second.  It was the sort of round on the dice roller that makes me feel guilty to not fudge things as GM.

Sajaa crit failed her first attack, and without another hero point, she ended up dropping her sword in the hex behind her.  The good news is that you never got the chance to make the second attack, so I didn't spend your extra FP for flurry of blows.  You did manage to successfully dodge (I opted for retreating dodge) the mace though.

Mace, sword, Terri and Lisa were all defended against, though Lisa did so much fire damage that it set the mace man's shield completely ablaze, and he seems to be presently engaged in trying to remove the fire hazard from his arm.

The only other attack was the bowshot from the woman in the cave, which unfortunately, I nearly crit failed for Sajaa again.  Your right arm is crippled from the wound.  Please roll vs. HT for stun (you do not suffer any shock though if your roll is successful due to HPT).

With Rolf (and both of your equipment) in tow, Gustav is flying at Very Heavy Encumbrance.  That puts you at a move of 2, allowing you to get up the slope in a total of 10 seconds.  You wouldn't be able to do that estimation on the spot, but it is clear that you are going much slower than you want.

If anyone above desires a quick way out, it is possible to intentionally slide down the embankment feet first without fear of certain death.  This requires a climbing roll and is quite different from falling off (like Elkins did).  The rope to climb down is also coiled near Lisa's feet, which she can kick over the side with a dedicated maneuver.

Time is of the essence.  Rolf knows that full well as the sound of battle rings out from above.  Every second is precious and he curses himself for not casting flight on Gustav sooner.

With the weight of his gear and that of Rolf, Gustav is making frustratingly slow progress flying to the landing above.  And Sajaa, Terri and Lisa surely will need their help sooner rather than later.

Tough choices need to be made, and made quickly.

"Drop me by the rope.  I'll follow!" the mage says to Gustav.

OOC: Rolf's options are limited to lighten Gustav's load.  It'd be best if Gustav just dropped Rolf near the rope and Rolf will try to climb up from there.

Looking for the rope, which Gustav can't see [I think it is still curled at the top], Gustav keeps flying up, looking for anything to help.
Cast something on them Rolf

OOC- If I missed something, I'll retcon the turn.

Not realizing the rope is coiled above the mage adds "Just drop me anywhere if there is no rope!"

Sajaa gasps when she sends her sword flying behind her from a sloppy swing.  She opens her mouth to shout out her frustration, but is interrupted when an arrow buzzes out of nowhere, punctures her leathers, and shreds through the belly of her triceps, through-and-through…

Unimaginable pain shocks her to the depths of her being…

~O ALLAH! It HURTS!~

Through tears of pain, Sajaa glimpses a fiery ball of orange streak past her to burst upon the maceman’s shield.  A flash of intense heat singes her face…

OOC: Ouch! Sajaa is going to take All Out Defense, employing +2 extra effort shield block.  She’ll try to hold her ground and not retreat.  But if she has an opportunity to give a quick glimpse behind her to (a) see if she spot her sword and (b) see how close the edge of the cliff is, she will. But if doing that imperils her defense, she won’t.If Sajaa can position herself so either or both of the warriors are partly blocking the archer's view of her, she will do so.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:28, Mon 21 Nov 2022.

Gustav will let Rolf slide back down if he is that close to the gound.

Trying to take advantage of their foes' apparent wariness of being fireballed Lisa makes a vague finger-twiddle and point at the nearest foe and loudly says, "She's-ham!" all as a vague misdirection for them from her real intent to maneuver the rope over the side.

Recognizing that carrying the burden of Rolf is simply too much to do at speed, Gustav releases his grip and lets the mage fall.  The his immediately lightened load makes a drastic difference, and his body rockets upwards, the cliff above and the three women in their peril quickly coming into view.

For his part, Rolf cushions his landing as best he can by dropping down to a crouch, before coming back to a stand and looking towards the scene above, trying to find some way to make his own ascent.

Above, the fight seems to be going through a momentary lull...  engrossed by his shield, which has erupted into flames that lick towards his face, the man with the mace takes a step back and flings his arm with a wild, whip like motion to be rid of the liability...  The thing slips off his arm most of the way, though it catches on for a moment by the strap, now hanging limply from his arm.

Intending to distract the fighter, Lisa calls loudly, spouting mumbo jumbo in her most confident voice.  She draws the man's attention, a mere look of anticipation, and she kicks the rope hard with her right foot, sending the coils crashing down the slope with their heavy weight.

Sajaa, noting her own foe's momentary distraction, takes a moment to look behind her.  The edge falls away a few inches behind her heels, and her sword lies at the earth, just to the side of her feet...  If she could only make a maneuver to grab it...  Trusting to luck, and to her foes distraction, Sajaa drops down to a crouch, her eyes now focusing back into the cave, where she sees the archer drawing another arrow and notching it upon the string.

On the other side, Terri seems to be fighting with all the fury that has lapsed elsewhere for the moment.  With a cry of rage she leaps forward towards the man with the sword, slashing her knife viciously at his face.  The man cries with surprise, trying to shove her away bodily with his shield, though the move is to no avail.

Again, Terri lashes out, this time scoring a biting gash across the man's cheek.  Though the man steps back with a scream, attempting to bring his own sword around, Terri rushes forward to meet him, and the close confines and his own shield make the swing impossible.

OOC:  I forgot to mention the time frame for this last post.  I think everyone gave me one second, which I stretched out to two.

Sajaa was not attacked in the last round, so I used your first second to look around and your second second to drop down to a crouch (assuming that you were looking to grab the sword).  While you can grab it with your left hand, and doing so does not inhibit you from using your shield, you cannot attack with it while also wearing a shield on the same arm.

Lisa's ruse was good enough to distract the mace guy, though he is already fully distracted, trying to lose his shield which is quickly starting to burn on all sides.

Gustav is a few yards from the top and can just now see all of what is going on.  You can take a move maneuver and land on the outcropping in your next turn.  At the moment, you still have the two crossbow bolts in your hand - if you wish to fast draw your weapons you may do so using your previous roll, just realize that means you'll have to drop the bolts.

Rolf is still at the bottom and unharmed by the short fall.  The rope is quickly falling in your direction, and you may try and use that to climb up to the top, though doing so will likely take the entire duration of the fight and more.

Terri is fighting like a woman possessed, wildly and without much regard for herself.  She managed a moderate blow to the swordsman's face and is in close combat.

Note that everyone including Sajaa has at least half cover from the bow-woman based on the other bad guys being inbetween.

Let's do another two seconds.

Sajaa refuses to look at her right arm, fearing the sight of it will send her into a panic...

Once the wave of excruciating pain washes over her and settles into a dull, endorphin dulled ache, she hefts her shield up, bracing her left shoulder against it, and charges the fire-distracted maceman with every ounce of strength and speed she can muster...
This message was last edited by the player at 20:55, Mon 21 Nov 2022.

Given the situation he sees, Gustav takes one bolt with his left hand and then throws the other at the swordsmans face.


He will then take the second bolt and prepare / throw at the archer, while trying to stap onto the ledge.

Amazed that Saja's still standing, never mind fighting like something otherworldly, Lisa narrows her focus to her immediate world: the swordsman in front as she wield her buckler once more. Scant heartbeats after her sister-friend charged the fellow with the burning shield Lisa moves to stab the swordsman in front of her. At a minimum it might keep him too busy to strike at Sajaa's flank!

Unceremoniously does Gustav drop Rolf on the cliff face below.  The drop is fortunately small and the mage does his best to land like a cat and skitter to the bottom.  He is unhurt, which he expected to be, but he can't say that for sure for those above.

Rolf looks up at the daunting climb ahead of him.  Even with a rope the climb is going to be time consuming and tiring.  It's likely the fight will be long over before he reaches the landing rim.

He must cast a spell, but this casting is going to cost him dearly he knows.  He'll be very weak afterwards but it must be done.

OOC: Rolf will cast another flight spell on himself and fly up after Gustav.

Like the tides shifting in and out on a whim and waves crashing over a helpless beach, so do the fates of battle sway and shift, favoring one side, then shifting in overwhelming fashion to buoy the other.

With Sajaa disarmed, and the two foes more heavily armed and armored, it seems but a matter of time before the women are overwhelmed.  Rolf imagines scenes just like this in his mind, for he wastes not a moment from whence he hit the ground, putting all of his effort into a another spell so that he can help the fray.

"Fuga!"  He shouts.  And though his head spins with the dizzying effort, he feels the pressure of the ground ease against his feet and he knows that with but the application of his concentration, he is now able to fly!

But above, the hourglass of the fight has already turned over, and the women are seizing the moment.

Her hair flying as she heaves her body with effort, Terri surges her knife in a high, hook-like swing.  Though the swordsman flails in effort to repel the blow, stepping back, raising his shield, bobbing his head away, he seems unable to defy fate.  The knife crashes into his cheekbone with the stomach-turning pop! of broken bone and severed tissue.

Blood pours from the man's face as he screams!  Crimson spray coats the back of his shield and Terri's hair and armor, but only for a second, for the man is already falling, his sword clattering to the ground beside him as he lies still, agape and motionless in the slowly building puddle of his own sanguine gore.

Sajaa too, seeks to turn the tables and she readies herself for a moment before surging forward off her back foot and throwing her shield in front of her, attempting to knock down the man with the mace.

His flaming shield finally free from his arm with a last flick of his wrist, the mace man attempts to meet Sajaa's attack with a quick step to the side and a swing of his own weapon as she passes.

Thwack! Thump!

Sajaa grits her teeth in pain as her shield smashes into the thick of the man's chest almost at the same time as the heavy-headed ball of the mace redoubles off her shield and smashes into her hip!  She sucks he breath in, readying for a fall, though miraculously she somehow keeps her feet.  Her head reels from the blow, but she is still up and fighting...  Only a moment later does she realize that she is now standing over her foe who has lost his balance with the impact and fallen to his back!

Lisa lunges in, attempting to take advantage of the downed foe, though her rapier rebounds upon the man's chainmail with a clink! without so much as drawing blood.

Behind the others, Gustav lands upon the plinth, shifting the crossbow bolts in his hands, though he now finds that he has no easy target to throw at!

"Nisir!"  The woman archer screams from the hallway ahead, her bow now leveled directly at Terri.

OOC:  What a wild fight.  This round has pretty much proved that statistics is a stupid subject and doesn't work.  Pretty much every rolled defense was a 14 or above, both for the good guys and the bad.

2 seconds again please.

Terri has downed the swordsman with a life-threatening stab wound to the face.  He is clearly out of the fight and Terri has taken the next moment to look around and regain her bearings.

Sajaa has succeeded her shield slam, which knocked over her foe.  However, he also managed to score a hit in the same turn which came extremely close to crippling Sajaa's leg.  Sajaa is now at half move and dodge, though luckily block is unaffected.

Lisa has drawn her buckler and made an attack against the mace man.  The attack was successful, but did not seem to do any damage.

Rolf successfully cast flight and has two spells active.  Your fatigue is noted on your character sheet and you are currently half move/dodge/ST due to exhaustion.  Both hands are empty and you are moving at a rate of 6 (due to medium encumbrance), so you can make it to the cave in 4 seconds.

Gustav landed at the edge of the platform and has shifted the crossbow bolts to one in each hand.  While it's true that you no longer have a good target, you wouldn't have had the time to throw yet anyway.  However, you do now have a ready bolt in each hand if you still intend to throw them.


This message was last edited by the GM at 15:47, Tue 22 Nov 2022.

Sajaa's helmed head feels heavy as it lolls to one side to gaze down at the big man she just bowled over. But, Allah! Did the brute get in a good one before he went down!

She knew this new life as an adventurer she has chosen would have its risks, and she knew that getting into toe-to-toe fights with better skilled and armored men such as the maceman was dangerous. But in her lust to fight, she quickly dismissed the odds against her and assumed she would prevail in the end...

How wrong she was!

Between her maimed right arm which is dangling uselessly and bloodily at her side, and a blow to her leg that seems to nearly have dislocated her hip joint, Sajaa has had enough... Vaguely in her mind's ear she hears Rolf and Gustav's admonishing voices: We told you so!

Shield raised protectively, she falls back away from the fighters....

"... burn him ... Lisa..."

OOC: Sajaa is going to fall back away from danger and wait for the cavalry to arrive, taking all out +2 shield blocks.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 15:52, Tue 22 Nov 2022.

Gustav shifts to the Archer and throws the bolt.


He then passes the second bolt to his right hand and draws the main Gauche with his left.

Rolf feels the last remaining vestiges of his energy drain from him as he casts his spell.  Lighter than air he thrusts upward to join the battle.

"I'm coming!" he shouts to any that can hear him.

OOC:  Rolf will fly upwards.  He will try to bring out his crossbow, which I assume would be unloaded if it was stowed away?

Lisa puts everything into stabbing the fellow on the ground.

Her hip screaming in pain, Sajaa backpedals, her teeth clenched and shield held at the ready.  With a glance behind her, she steps over the muddle of bodies and the burning shield, making room for Gustav who is already stepping forward from the edge.  The swordsman moves to the side for her, flinging the crossbow bolt he holds in his fingers as she passes, and though his aim is true, the strength of his arm proves to be no substitute for the recoil of a crossbow, and the dart merely hits across the chainmail shirt and falls to the ground harmlessly.

But despite his injuries the mace fighter does not give up!  Instead, he pushes himself to an elbow before getting his feet to the ground underneath him.

Thinking to take advantage of the man while he is compromised, Lisa lunges in, stabbing her sword forward and down with her utmost ability!  However, her blow catches the man off-center, slicing into the mail links, but cutting out and away, instead of plunging deeper into his chest as she had planned.

Lisa goes in for another stab, though by this point the man is stepping up to his feet, swinging his own mace to meet her!  Dodging the weapon seems to foil her own aim and her second attack misses by a fraction of an inch.

Twang!

An arrow flies from within the cave, streaking straight towards Terri!  Terri twists her body violently, somehow avoiding the missile, which streaks past her and over the side of the cliff harmlessly.  With a look of rage upon her face, Terri charges ahead, bloodied knife held firm in her grip as she screams the attack at the top of her lungs.

"Aaaaaeeeeeeiiii!"

The archer flings herself backwards to avoid Terri's blow, gripping at her own waist to pull free a short-bladed hatchet.

OOC:  Gustav has a ready crossbow bolt in his right hand and a ready main-gauche in his left.  Based on your thrown crossbow bolt attempt earlier, you don't think the tactic is going to be of much use against the chainmail armor, unless you manage to get really lucky.

Lisa managed a light wound against the mace fighter, and I had her attack again on the second turn, though my roll for her missed.  Luckily, she did manage to dodge the mace with a retreating dodge, though the retreat option won't be available again this turn due to your position on the cliff.  Please let me know if you want to add a feverish option (for +2) to your dodge, or if you want to switch to a parry (though note your sword may break if parrying a mace).  A +2 feverish is also available for a parry.

Sajaa has managed to extract herself and stands on the edge of the cliff with a ready shield and crippled sword arm.  Your sword is lying near your feet again.

Rolf is flying up to the top and will reach the map in another 2 seconds.

Let's try and do 3 seconds of action this time.


This message was last edited by the GM at 17:23, Tue 29 Nov 2022.