Lysande isn't necessarily quick to react but she takes a step forth, whipping out her bow and loosens two arrows in quick succession, unfortunately they find nothing but the far end of the wall. "Quick, take him out!" she says in a hissing tone, not wanting to draw the attention of other guards. Pressing herself against a door she makes room for anyone who wants to enter and engage the man in melee.

ooc: Init 7, move: 5ft step forth, free: draw bow, std. full attack
attack 1: 12 (assumed a miss), attack 2: 8, definetly a miss.

Alister with his trusty magic sword in hand quickly dashes towards the enemy.  He silently prayed for a swift and painless death for the man he is about to strike down.

---
12:35, Today: Alister Flaga rolled 11 using 1d8+3. dmg.
12:35, Today: Alister Flaga rolled 20 using 1d20+8. atk long swd.
12:34, Today: Alister Flaga rolled 16 using 1d20+2. initiaive.

Joseph hurries through the door, already raising one end of his blade for strike. . .

The somewhat heavyset guard dodges the arrows, and begins moving toward Lysande at the doorway.  His eyes open wide, however,and he gives a low shout when Alister and Joseph come piling through the door.  He gives a louder cry when Alister's blade hits, and he strikes back with a broad-bladed short sword.  A brief glance behind Alister shows no escape past Joseph, so the guard tries to retreat back toward the area at the rear of the apparent jail. You hear sounds indicating concern or excitement coming from at least some of the cells.



OOC: Joseph, sorry, the passageway is only 5 ft wide, you cannot get past Alister at the moment to strike at the guard.

Alister, the guard's blade slips through your defenses - you take 4 damage.


This message was last edited by the GM at 00:46, Thu 13 Sept 2007.

Lysande desperately wanted to silence the guard but in the confined space her arrows might have well hit one of her friends, a risk she could not accept. The sun elf knocked another arrow and patiently waited for an opening.

ooc: Delay, should the guard still stand after all other attacks, I'll try another arrow.
edit: Tried the arrow, natural "1", why do I roll anyhow?
This message was last edited by the player at 07:39, Fri 14 Sept 2007.

--- Did i drop him?
06:49, Today: Alister Flaga rolled 9 using 1d8+3. dmg.
06:49, Today: Alister Flaga rolled 21 using 1d20+8. atk long swd.

OOC: Not yet Alister - he is wounded and retreating toward the rear area of the prison

Alister's next attack drops the guard to the ground.  The man makes a low grunt at the last breath leaves his body.  The murmuring from the prison cells starts turning to excited utterances in at least two or three different languages.

OOC: A quick glance at the dead guard shows he is wearing a black cloak over a studded leather chest piece.  He holds an odd-looking broad-bladed short sword, and there seems to be a cat-o-nine tails tucked into his belt.

Lysande sighs in relief, noticing the fight did not cause that much of a commotion. "Somebody close the door. Nobody must notice what happened here." she says to those standing behind her, then she moves between the cells and emits a rather noisy "Ssshhhhh! Do not alert the guards!" then takes a look into them to find out who or what was held prisoner.

Aelynia was unable to join the battle in time to be of any assistance, something she would force herself to pay pennance for later once everyone was asleep.

Alister flicks his blade and proceeds on closing the door.  "Found anything interesting yet?

Tuar and Glim follow the others in as Alister shuts the door behind them. They too are curious as to the inhabitants of the cells.

There are a total of eight cells, all with relatively new locks and hardware.  Six of the eight cells have residents, all but one of whom have quieted down at Lysande's urging.  You recognize the dialect as that of the Zhentarim as the man speaks (and a bit louder than common sense might dictate), "Let me out of here! Check the guard for keys! You will be well rewarded!"

The other inhabitants include two Bedine women, one middle-aged, one younger, a gaunt-looking gray-bearded dwarf,  and a large red-haired man whose muscles seemd to have wasted away beneath sagging skin, The sight of the last cell inhabitant brings a smile of joy to Tuar's face. It is a young-looking elven woman with white hair who appears to be meditating. "Lena! He cries in an excited whisper. "It is her! My sister!"

"Quiet! Or you will alert the guards. There is two more of your kind waiting outside this place, too scared to follow us. Now you can either try to keep quiet until we are done with doing things our way, or I will let you out and you can try to get to your friends yourself. - Good luck with that." Lysande glared at the Zhent. She had no love for them, cowardly and selfish to the core their society lived upon exploitation of the weak.

"Everyone, I would like your input on this. These people are in no condition to fight alongside us. Worst case they might be used against us by taking them hostage. But we cannot let them go and fend for themselves alone, either.

I am open to suggestions."

Not normally one to contradict others, Aelynia hoped that Lysande would not be offended as she spoke, "We must not leave them here.  They could be killed simply for seeing us and not alerting guards.  They must come with us.  I will protect them with my life, I swear it."

Alister stay silent for a moment looking for something.

Lysande bit her lip "You want to protect Joseph, you want to protect the prisoners and when are you going to protect yourself?" she thought but realized that it would be a moot point to bring to Aelynia's attention. The sun elf just hoped she would not be forced to chose whom to protect in battle.

"It seems it has been decided to take them along."

The wizardess leaned into Alister, whispering something.

OOC: I am assuming you have not yet released the prisoners, waiting to see if any are capable of ill intent.

<b>After exchanging a wordless touch of hands with his sister through the bars of her cell door, Tuar turns to the others to make his opinion known.

"I am sure these folk would be safer outside.  I say that I take them to the back canyon.  We can give the big one a blade to help, he seems a warrior type. And I am sure the Zhent man there would rather go to his fellow countrymen than explore a fortress crawling with bandits.

What say the rest of you?"

Alister whispers back to Lysande.

"I agree with Tuar - they would be safer outside, than where we will be going.  Let him lead them back, and have them find a place to hide, in case we should fail at stopping the raiders," Joseph stated after having been quiet for a long time, thinking it to be the safest choice for them all, even if it meant that they would have one blade less on their side with Tuar gone.

Lysande raised an eyebrow "Mildly? Are they a wine of a mellow vintage?" the wizardess thought but put her concerns about Alister's use of language aside, this was not the place.

Seeing Tuar with his sister gave the sun elf a pang of jealousy, something she had never felt before. Of course her intellect told her that the woman was his sister but her wisdom failed to catch up. "Very well, I am not the one to keep families apart.

Free the prisoners and let Tuar take them away from the fray we are soon to enter." her words sounded harsher than intended, caused by a pain in the heart. Tuar had always been at her side since they had entered the desert. Seeing him leave her in the hour of need was a painful experience but none she would share with anybody.

"When you are done, let us continue." she announced and went outside, carefully avoiding making any noise.

Aelynia did not argue, torn between wanting to go with the prisoners to keep them safe and staying with Joseph to help and protect him.  It was so very odd, to her at least, how much she enjoyed his company and friendship.  She thought that of all of them, Tuar or Lysande would be the ones she'd have the most in common with and be the closest to.  But perhaps they were too busy, too wrapped up in their own lives, or maybe they just didn't even like her really.  But no matter, not truly, for she had found a friend.  And a good one at that.

Tuar stares briefly at Lysande, but he does not know what to say to her.  He starts to reach in her direction, to give her some kind of comfort, but it feels awkward - it is not his way.

He turns his attention to the former prisoners and gathers them up into a tight group.  He keeps his sister closest to himself. To his companions, he bids farewell, for now, "Once these folk are safe, I will return, or try to help in some way. Good hunting."

(OOC:  NPC'd by the DM)
This message was last edited by the player at 01:31, Thu 01 Nov 2007.

Tuar leads the ex-prisoners out, and back to the room where you entered the fortress. Glim follows to provide cover and lookout duty.  The half-drow returns after several minutes.

"The miserable Zhentari complained as I shoved him out of the window to freedom...The passageway is still empty, though I heard moans which stopped short. Might have come from the room just beyond."

The sun elf's eyes lingered on Tuar as he left with the prisoners, sure there was his sister, the reason why he had stayed with her... with the group. But her heart didn't beat quite right anymore and all she could do was push the thought from her mind and focus on what lay ahead.

Lysande moved on, carefully as the first time she walked up to the next door, bow and arrow ready for use. Listening at the door, she hoped to notice something that would tell her what to expect behind it.

ooc: take ten on move silently: 20.

"Let me check again, but I'm guessing that big-bad-black-daddy-scorpion is on the top floor."  Alister said to Lysande as he looks for the biggest blot of evil in the vicinity, hopefully the zents won't be messing up his senses.