OOC:  It appears the dice roller has ordained that we shall not survive this encounter...

Despite Ronalt falling and his own wounds about to overcome him, Markus throws himself, sword leading, at the hammer-wielding warrior.  His own fatigue is still showing as the strike goes wide of the mark.

Attack : Hits AC 12
Damage : 11 hp

[Private to DM:
06:05, Today: Markus Sielaff rolled 11 using 1d8+4. Damage (Bastard Sword).
06:05, Today: Markus Sielaff rolled 6 using 1d20. Attack (Bastard Sword).]
This message was last edited by the player at 12:08, Fri 27 July 2007.

Tindo starts to cast a spell gesticulating frequently at the half-orc fighter, her arcane words unintelligible to all. Whether it is this obvious attempt at some form of mind control, or bad co-ordination, the half-orc misses Yesil once again.  The plainswoman once more bolstered by dwarven magics makes no mistake and her strange top heavy sword inflics a serious cut in the half-orcs thigh causing his leg to buckle as he swore in rage and pain. Felicia's attempt to capitalise on this is ineffective, her mace connecting only with air as it misses his head.

Markus, squares up to the leader, knowing he is outmatched he is determined to make him pay dearly.  Unfortunately he too is off mark. The fighter does not hesitate in his attack, his warhammer is swung in a great arc, a killer blow if it had connected. Luckily, Markus while trying to dodge the blow slips on the bloody flagstones and the lethal strike glances off his armour. The follow up from the fighter's shield hits Markus but does not put him down.

Drake, lying beyond help, gasps audibly. Blood from his lungs splatters his face as he convulses briefly then is still.

[Private to Markus Sielaff: 4hps damage, I have you at 6 hps now. If the fighter had hit you know you would have followed Ronalt to the floor... ]

[Private to Ronalt de Gault: Sorry mate, you did good... -6 now]

[Private to Yesil: I now have you at 6 +6( temporary) hps. +1 to hit]

The battle raged on...
Dredging the bottom of the proverbial barrel, Arek commenced chanting once more. Building to a cresendo, his hand reached out for a third time to Yesil, transfering vital energies into her battered body.
[Private to DM; Yesil: Cure light wounds: 4 points - that's all there is as far as healing.]

Tindoome frantically looks about her eyes going from fallen to fallen in search of daggers or perhaps something ells she could use to aid the others, she briefly thinks about charging into the melee and hoping her magic protects her but for now she pushes that taught away as foolish and searches for other options

A booming hymn to Kord on his lips, Markus presses in close to the hammer-fighter, attempting to hack his way through his formidable defenses!

Attack : #1 hits AC 4
       : #2 hits AC 14
Damage : #1 - 11 hp
       : #2 - 10 hp

[Private to DM:

08:26, Today: Markus Sielaff rolled 10 using 1d8+4. Damage #2.
08:26, Today: Markus Sielaff rolled 11 using 1d8+4. Damage #1.
08:25, Today: Markus Sielaff rolled 4 using 1d20. Attack #2.
08:25, Today: Markus Sielaff rolled 14 using 1d20. Attack #1.]

"Tindo!" Arek's deep voice cut through the sounds of battle as soon as the latest of his prayers had been completed.
"See t' our woun'ed. Bandages in m' pack!"
The pack dropped to the ground behind him as he shrugged it off and made to recover his hammer. With just one more spell available to him that might be of some use in this battle, Arek knew he'd soon be trading blows with a far stronger enemy again very soon.

Energised by the dwarf's magics, Yesil strikes again.  Her war cry in full flow as she hits the half-orc an appalling blow. The half-orc does not even have time to scream as its head flies off hitting Felicia. Blood fountains from the body which slowly buckles at the knees then keels forward.

Markus attacks the warrior, his blows failing to penetrate the armour and shield protection. The warrior knocks aside Markus's bastard sword with his shield and strikes a serious blow with his warhammer. Maurkus grunts in pain as he too falls to the ground, or rather heap of bodies.

Arek again supplies the barbarian with healing magics as she and Felicia now face the warrior.

Vestan moves forward between Arek and the wall, possibly hoping for a rear attack on the warrior while he is occupied killing others or possibly looking to flee.

OOC: sorry away from my mapping software and in a rush.  If you need a map let me know and I will ASCII one up.

[Private to Yesil: now at 10+6 hps, +1 to hit.  I rolled a natural for you :)]

[Private to Markus Sielaff: Major damage 10 hps, now at -4]

[Private to Tindoome Uurraumo: You can easilly retreive Arek's bandages.  Ronalt really looks like he need help if he is to survive.]

Tindoome grabs Arek's bandages and runs over to Ronalt skittering the last part and faling to her knees as she pulls him away from the melee as far as she can. Bandages are not really something she had learned how to do but she tries her best, witch still looks clumsy and ill don at best

She looks up to see how the others are doing, hopefully the rest will be able to face of against one man

The moment Arek's hammer is retrieved he begins the very last of his healing prayers. Although only temporary, the additional blessing it gave the receipient could prove to be the greatest assistance any of them could give.
Reaching out his hand while the hammer swung from it's strap on his wrist, he touched Felicia and felt the familiar warmth flow through him and into her body.
[Private to DM; Felicia Florette: Aid spell: 3 temporary hit points and a bless spell thrown in.]

The main fighters, with the exception of Yesil, were all down and things looked perilous. Arek cast another spell bringing aid to Felicia.

The warrior almost impervious to their attacks renewed his offensive.  He lunges at Yesil, the barbarian standing her ground. At the last second however, he showed this to be a feint as he spun on his heals and started back down the corridor at speed.

Taken by surprise, only Vestan had time to react, he threw one of the strange bombs that the bugbears had, after the fighter.  It lands square on his back and immediately explodes is a small fireball. The fighter ignored this as he tried to make good his escape.

He was moving fast, as shown by the fiery remnants on his back. So fast in fact that only the barbarian and possibly Tindo could keep up if they chose to follow.

Markus continued to ooze blood but with Tindo's help, Ronalt's bleeding slowed.

OOC: Felicia you have cast bless, magic missile, cure light wounds, spiritual hammer
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:34, Mon 06 Aug 2007.

"Let 'im go. We're in no condition to gi' chase."
With barely more than half their number still able to stand, the next day or two would be a struggle for survival if, or more likely, when, the enemy chose to counter attack once more.
Pulling another bundle of bandages from his pack, Arek proceeded to tend to Markus.
"Felicia! Len' a hand will ya!"

Tindoome dos her best to learn her way around the bandages as fast as she can and aid the priests as best she can "When will we be able to get out of hear, I feel we should not be sticking around to long we could easily be overpowered. We all need rest" After there is no simpler jobs to be done she seas to gathering up all the items that she had noticed to be of special quality or the hint of magic. Searching the corpses of the fallen with the focused of somebody who is trying to keep their mind from thinking a lot. She piles it in the center of the room, the coins and any other valuables rings and necklaces she places in a pouch lighter things she will put into her small backpack and will attempt to find space for anything more heavy after it is known how many of them can walk

Yesil halted her pursuit mid-stride, spinning on her heel to stalk back toward the group.  The <i>kyulikh</u> was right -- they were too depleted to continue, and they should rest to finish the fight another time.  It was enough that the others had been driven off.

At Tindoome's suggestion of retreat, Yesil merely grunted, offering no clue as to whether that was approval or rejection of the idea.

Yesil stayed close enough to the passageway south to see or hear any approach. Vestan went further down the corridor before disappearing into the shadows. With those two on guard it was unlikely any follow up from their foes would go undetected.

Time passed as the clerics attended to the injured amongst them.  Tindo made herself useful by searching the bodies.  She discovered that one of the humans was still alive and stable, conscious but incapacitated by his wounds. It was clear that the weapons and armour of the dead priest were of considerable worth, possibly magical. In addition one of the humans had carried a longsword that seemed particularly well balanced.

OOC: wanted to get things moving again, I'll post a list of items later...

Tindoome looks at Arek for guidance when she discovers that one of the humans is still alive "What do we do with him. We cant kill him now, its not " She swallowed hard using all her will to puss the image and sound of the priest gurgling up blood as she cut his trought, but this was not like that the danger was not so immediate any more. The more she taught about it the sicker she felt after a moment she straightened standing and ran to a corner ware she emptied the mornings meal on to the floor, she felt a bit dizzy but strangely better now

"Tend ta 'is wounds and tie 'im," Arek replied after a few moments thought.
"We'll ta'e 'im back ta Homlet if ah kin think o' a way ta do it."
Probably a task that was beyond them with so many of their number critically wounded. The only way they were going to get anyone of their number back was with help.
"Yesil, tell tha boy to fin' us a wagon or something."

Ronalt lay in drying blood, most of it being his.

[Private to GM: OCC: So Ronalt is stabilised on ? HP.]

Tindo bandaged the man, who looked grateful for her help. It was clear that he, Ronalt and Marcus would need help to leave the moat house. Ronalt looked the most serious case. As Arek's request was forwarded, the usual winge of "Vestan do this, Vestan do that..." could be heard receding in to the distance. The group settled down to wait his return.

[Private to Yesil: After about ten minutes you can hear the sound of someone or something approaching from the south. It is unlikely that Vestan could be that quick. Shortly after she could see a lamp briefly illuminating the stairs before it is covered.]

[Private to Vestan Pance: Vestan moves down the corridor to the tee at the end and heads for the rear entrance.  As he moves forward, there is a strange glow in the floor and he finds he cannot move.  After about five minutes he hears the sound of someone approaching for behind him.  He is lit-up by a lamp and a voices says "V'ell vat 've we 'ere? A leetle man all stook in ane place eh? Easy pickin's en a part payment far me broover. Saw shud ah cut yer thoat naw or ughter eh? 'appen y'ell ha soom value ef yer en ane piece saw joost stay there." This followed by laughter as he heads off to the north towards the remainder of the group.]

[Private to Ronalt de Gault: -8hps mate, lucky Tindo eventually took the hint!!]
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:20, Fri 31 Aug 2007.

Tindoome suddenly realized she had forgotten about her daggers and went about gathering them back up, all the good they did do her but all the same. As she was finished with that in short order this left her with little to do, she peered down the hallway

She looks for a while, but after some time she turns about and decides to give the equipment another look studying it carefully looking for any writing or markings, it seams she is desperate for anything to take her mind off of the current situation

Yesil hissed over her shoulder, "Sssst!" and pointed southerly.  Her sword, never put away since the fight, was brought back to a ready position, and she took a place to the west of the passage, with her back against the wall.

Forewarned by Yesil, the group are still surprised how close the enemy is when a voice says "Wi kna' yer thar en ef yea want ta see yer little pal agin yeh wanna talk wi me!"

Tindoome looked to the others not knowing what to say or do; she was to new to the group to answer to any such thing. She looked at the other members of the party who were still standing she looked a bit scared as she pulled a dagger free to hold it in her hand

"A' reet, ye kin play deef ef ye's wan'. Boot ef ya wanna see yon wee runt agin, ye'll dea es a telt ya. Pick oop yer deed en deing en gaw aught tha' way ya coom in en dinnae coom back. Lei' oos oor deed en dinna hack em aboot afore ye gaw." said the voice.  There is the sound of footfalls retreating then from a distance comes a shout "Ye've git five meenits ta git oot afore ee's kilt en wi coom a git ye."

Yesil looked to Arek, her face grim.  The one they spoke of had to be the little troublemaker, she figured.  Her thoughts were torn -- give in to this?  The barbarian woman's jaw set in a hard line, but her eyes on the dwarf were questioning.

Tindoome holds the dagger in hand and looks from Arek to Yesil and then the others wondering what to do, she is prepared throw the dagger if anything threatening attacks them