Darkhawk: The Horror Begins

Snivelling coward? Kyros thinks, and then, irrationally, I wasn't *snivelling* about it.

The young man then does something perhaps a little foolish, but everything that's happened to him in the past hour--waking up imprisoned with none of his possessions, the woman being tortured and the torturer apparently escaping, the guards' attacks and now the insult--has shattered his usual calm demeanor. After a quick glance around for something he can use to attack, he lunges for the guard remaining in the room, using whatever tool might be nearby or simply throwing his fist into the man's face if there isn't one handy or he doesn't spot one.

Whew! So sorry about the delay this week, guys. I've been pretty sick recently. Long-term illness that comes and goes. I'll try to let you know next time I will be out of comission like that again. But I'm doing better now so we should be good for a while. On to the update!

Allister, seeing a moment of opportunity, jabs the torch right into the guard's eye. The guard howls in pain and reaches up to cover the wound with his hands. He attempts to stagger towards the doorway, but Jonathon catches him off guard and smacks him with his mace on the back of his head, putting the man down for good. The guard falls in a crumpled heap on the floor, a small pool of blood beginning to form around his head. If left alone, he will likely die from the wound.

Meanwhile, Balin and Kyros begin moving towards the door to give chase to the fleeing guard up the stairs. Jonathon momentarily admires his handiwork then quickly moves with them. They come upon the guard at the top level where he is frantically moving towards the door. Before he is able to open it, he realizes he is trapped like a mouse. The squirrely fellow known as Lynward cowers before you, "Oh please sirs!" he begs, " Please don't kill me. I gots a wife, an' kids. I was jes' doin' me job. Youse kin understand that cants ya?"

The man is clearly shaken as he comes to terms with the fact that he is grievously wounded and facing down three very angry escaped prisoners. It is almost as if all the atrocities commited in his life are replayed in the glassly look of fear in his eyes.

You earn 15 XP for defeating the torturer, although he has fled to parts unknown for the time being. You also earn 30 XP for defeating the two guards.

[sblock=combat details]
Allister attacks guard in D3; AC 18 (hit); 9 dmg (dv 2).
Guard in D3 withdraws to stairs; Allister's AoO AC 7 (miss); Jonathon's AoO AC nat 20, 10 to confirm (no confirm) for 5 dmg (dv 1); Guard falls prone and unconscious in D2.
Guard moves up stairs.
Balin pursues.
Jonathon pursues.
Kyros pursues.
[/sblock]
[sblock=dave_o]
Allister still needs a bonus language, age, height, and weight.
[/sblock]
[sblock=Ivid]
Balin needs an age.
[/sblock]
[sblock=Jemal]
I need an age for Jonathon.
[/sblock]
[sblock=Blind Azathoth]
I need an age, height, and weight for Kyros.
[/sblock]

END OF ROUND
LOWER LEVEL


UPPER LEVEL

[sblock=DM ONLY]
D2 Guard 4 hits; dying.
A3 Guard disabled.
[/sblock]

Good to see you back! Hope your health betters soon.

Balin does not hesistate and - with considerable startup - kicks the guard into the face.

"I am sorry, man, but I won't allow you to fool us again!"

When the guard is hopefully knocked down for the moment, Balin will remove any weapons from Lynward and move to the door to listen if the uproar has been heard somehow...

Allister grinds his jaw in concern as Balin delivers a brutal kick to the downed Lynward. That one may be waist deep in the dark already. Placing the torch in a sconce on the wall, Allister sets about the business of inspecting the downed, his actions automatic, a task he has performed hundreds of times before. Leaving Lynward be, he instead kneels beside the guard whose eye he skewered with a burning torch, gently touching the wound, hoping most of it was seared shut and the only bleeding to styme comes from Jonathon's mace. Allister's hands then search the guard's pockets, slide any weapons away from him, perhaps keeping them should Allister be handy with them.

Then the solider turns and returns to the set of keys resting on the bound woman, trying once more to find the elusive key to her bonds. Walking through the room he gives each of the over escapees a silent look, subdued, congratulatory, but ultimately weary.

His gravel voice is kept quiet. "Be ready to move, quickly -- let us take this poor woman with us, and if any of you finds a proper blade amongst our recent foes, I'd be infinitely grateful."

Would I be? Having no weapon at hand with which I am skilled has been an excuse not to feel the death come from my fingers. Do I really want to fight, again?

Is there a choice, in times such as these?

DM Highlight Here (Cuz I Don't Know How To Do The Nifty Cut)

Kyros' reaction to Balin kicking the guard in the face rather differs from Allister's; the spellcaster's lips twitch into a half-formed smile. Just doing your job? And what a fine line of employment you have chosen... throwing innocents in prison, associating with torturers, trying to kill unarmed men. Well, mostly unarmed. And... I'm innocent, at least. I'm not so sure about the others.

Kyros looks over at the now hopefully unconscious guard and shakes his head. "I'd kill you," he muses aloud, "if I thought it would do any good. But you'd just be replaced by someone else, perhaps fouler than yourself, and if you do have a family, they'd just be deprived of a husband and father..." He trails off, thinking back on his own family life.

After a short time, he shakes himself from his reverie and moves back down the stairs, thinking to himself: That torturer, on the other hand... Perhaps what I said might apply in his case, as well, but I doubt he could be replaced by anyone fouler. And I do so look forward to hurting him...

Laying eyes upon the dying guard, Kyros kneels beside the man, considering whether to attempt to heal the man's injuries. He glances up at the others, opting to let them make the decision. "I can likely spare him from death, if I react quickly. Would you have me do this?"

[sblock=airwalkrr]Kyros is 23 years old, 5'10", and 130 lbs.[/sblock]

Allister's eyes bore into Kyros. "Yes, quickly." He continues rifling through the ring of keys, "The dead can't help us."

"The question is," he says, as he presses a hand to the dying man's head, "will the living help us?" This said, he mutters a few words, knitting the man's wounds with positive energy.

Kyros drops his prepared Sanctuary to cast Cure Light Wounds on the downed guard. Well...he does if that will help, anyway. The man's status is clearly "dying," but I'm not sure what's required to bring him back from that; the SRD, at least, makes no mention of healing having an effect on that status, though I'd assume it's similar to disabled--5 points of healing bumps him up to the next status level.