Trying to change his swing to be more effective, Devin tried to swing up into the man's chin.

OOC: Devin Harper rolled 19,4 using d20,d6.  Hammer time! Thaco 19.

The last man's fury continued to the end as he lashed out at Devin. Then surrounded and outnumbered the man succumbed to the assault and died bleeding on the ground.

The corpses of the five branded and tattooed men last on the bloody floor. The room was small and dirty. The meat roasting on the fire upon further inspection was identified as a human.

OOC Day: 6. Time: 10:30am. Turn: 9. Weather: Sunny, stormy, high winds. Vision: Daylight. Movement: 20'

Lantern oil used
Bertilak 8 Turn - lit
Fiene 6 Turns - lit

Bertilak will do his best to tend to the wounded now that the last of the cannibals is defeated.

Alas Arietta was beyond saving, Teodore although unconscious was made comfortable by Bertilak and remained alive.

Hoping to find Ben and more importantly the potion he carries, Fiene cautiously continues towards the stairway.

"Comrades," the dwarf beams when the last of the man-eaters falls before their collective assault. "We are all brothers born in the forge of battle today!"

"But you can just call me Comrade Derry," he informs the others.

Standing disconsolately over the still breathing fighting man, he asks if anything can be done to raise him back on his feet?

At some point, he searches the room for what treasures these savages might have had.

In a search of the room and the corpses Derry gathered a total sixty two copper pieces. Human flesh was roasting over the fire and the furniture was old and broken.

"And I thought the tavern food was bad! Yech! Disgusting!"

Derry does the only human thing possible. He extinguishes the fire and buries the meat in the ashes.

"Each copper," he happily announces, "is a copper for the people. 62 coppers for the people!"

He hoists the dead Arietta over his shoulders and says if someone else can help the warrior, they can all try to escape Stonehell together.

OOC Plan to take the direct back to the stairs, mindful of orcs along the way.

"Wait!" Devin said as the dwarf tried to leave with the young woman.  "I can save her!"  He'd remembered the scroll he'd been gifted by the grumpy nun.  She'd said it was worth a life and hers might yet be saved.

"Let me use this scroll to raise her back up!" he added, pulling forth the scroll from his sack.  He eagerly unrolled it to save the young fighter.

Bertilak holds his hand out to stay Devin. "She's gone, lad. No magic can heal her now."

OOC: Do NOT waste a scroll of cure light wounds on a dead NPC henchman!

"There is magic to bring back the dead and I have it!" Devin declared, brandishing the scroll.  "Mother Majken said it would bring back one life and we should use it now."

He prepared to read the scroll to save the young woman.  It was his duty to do all that he could.

Upon study of the scroll Devin understood its powers and limitations. The cleric saw the thin thread of life which Teodore clung to and saw the same thread cleaved in two when he looked at Arietta. The scroll had the power to restore life and consciousness to Teodore but would no naught for the Arietta, her life had expired entirely.

OOC Feel free to cast the scroll however you choose but Devin will understand the magic in the scroll and will have witnessed during his studies other clerics performing similar miracles.

Derry had been about to prop up the hireling's corpse in the appropriate pose for resurrection (whatever that might be) until he saw the cleric's hesitation. Without making a comment, he once again hoists her all too drippy corpse over his shoulders.

Realizing the scroll wasn't nearly long enough to bring the young woman back from the dead, he turned and read the divine script for Teodore's benefit.  Feeling the energies coursing through him from the scroll, he began to have doubts about whether it would have had an effect on the young woman.

OOC: Reads scroll of cure light wounds for Teodore.
Devin Harper rolled 8 using 1d8.  Cure Light Wounds, Teodore.

The holy power of Auril focused by the magical scroll healed Teodore. The fighter regained consciousness and was much healed.

OOC Cure Light Wounds is 1d6+1. I rerolled, Teodore is healed 4 hit points.

Teodore slowly sat up and wiped blood out of his eyes, feeling more blood matting his hair. He groaned and tried to focus his eyes on Devin, unsuccessfully. He must have come out second-best, again....

"What happened?"

Derry clasps Teodore to him like the brother-in-arms that he is.

"We prevailed, comrade! They will never fill their bellies again," he says, sweeping his gaze over the five dead cannibals. "Even the magic men fought; one even wetted his short blade."

"I'd keep my eye on him," Derry continues, looking at the battle mage. "He might want more."

With everybody back on their feet and the one cadaver across his shoulders, Derry leads those who will follow back to the exit.

Devin was more than ready to retreat.  The battle had felt like ages and he thought he'd meet Auril much sooner than he'd ever expected.

The party made it safely to the stairs and ascended up into the canyon. The storms and high winds of her early travel had disappeared to be replaced by sunshine.

OOC Day: 6. Time: 10:40am. Turn: 10. Weather: Sunny. Vision: Daylight. Movement: 20'

Lantern oil used
Bertilak 9 Turns - lit
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:01, Tue 27 July 2021.

In reply to Derry the Dwarf (msg # 125):

He gives a short bow to Derry with a wide smile.

"I am more used to battling dense prose in arcane libraries, my long-bearded friend, but I do what must for my companions!"

"Then let us return you to those libraries for a few nights of study," returns Derry.

As he marches back to Fourtowers, paying his burden no mind, he sings a traditional marching song, the refrain of which goes:

"So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the dwarven race."

Devin leaned in to Teodore and asked quietly, "That isn't the same dwarf we started the day with, right?"

"I think not, but every time we travel to the dungeon the party roster changes along the way."

The walk to Fourtower Bridge took the rest of the afternoon and on the journey the party met no danger.

The feast of sausage and cider continued at the Moorland Magpie Inn, Lorna charging four silver pennies for the meal.

XP 20 each.

Afternoon of Day 6.