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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Brimshack" data-source="post: 4223662" data-attributes="member: 34694">Suddenly a door opened in the building across the street and three men charged out. One carried a shield and a sword, a second waved a great scimitar about, and the third wielded an axe. A Crossbowman began firing at us through the window and an archer from the doorway.I did not see him, but it was about the same time that August rounded the corner and fired two arrows in rapid order straight into one of the charging men. I did see the effect of August’s arrows. The poor fellow tried to duck the first arrow, and he almost succeeded. Unfortunately ‘almost’ means very little when one’s head is the last thing out of harm's way. The shaft struck him in the forehead, glanced off the bone and ricocheted up over the building behind him. The man stumbled foreword a moment, reeling from the pain. It was then the second arrow struck him. This one went straight through his eye and out the back of his head, almost without causing any immediate effect upon the man’s body. He staggered foreword another step and collapsed in the middle of the street.I could see the arrow that slew the man lodged in the open door behind him.Carla charged into a second warrior and the two quickly paired off into a little one-on-one duel. This left the archer and the crossbowman free to continue firing at us while a third melee fighter was free to cross the street and engage anyone of his choice. He chose instead to converge on Carla, turning her one-on-one duel into a dangerous play against two separate enemies in the firing arc of a third.Honestly, I think that is the first time I have ever feared for Carla’s safety. She can be so strong, but I must admit, this time I thought she had bit off more gristle than her teeth could manage. The remaining door-guard began retreating down the hallway with blizzard harassing him the whole way. Tom loosed an arrow into the fellow, but it proved insufficient to take him down. Seamus charged on down the hall to the very end where he was met by several guards coming out of the open bar area. A few women appeared in various parts of the hallway. One, accompanied by her client, simply shut herself back in the room while two others ran screaming around the bend in the hallway.So, I stood there in the middle of the hallway, watching the women run past me. Seamus and the Waggie were to the front of me fighting an ever growing number of enemies. Tom and Michael were right behind me, firing as they could in support of Blizzard and Seamus. August, Kristen, Patty, and Bob all stood somewhere near the mouth of the hallway, and Carla could be found across the street, taking on a whole flank almost by herself. It was around this time that I attempted a healing upon Seamus and the Waggie, both of whom had taken some damage. It was close, but I did not succeed. Had I taken but another moment or two to concentrate on my actions, I think I might have succeeded. I just didn’t think I had the time as there were doors on either side of me, any one of which could have birthed an enemy at a moment’s notice. To say nothing of the possibility that one of the women might turn out to be loyal to the brothel, and perhaps confident with a dagger. So, I attempted a quick healing, and I failed.Argh! It was like the battle in the warehouse all over again, I was so angry with myself. Still, there was no time to fret. I simply prepared myself to try again.Carla soon paid for her courage. She took not one, but two arrows in her torso. I could not see the extent of her injuries, but I heard her squeal in pain both times, and I could see it hampered her movements. If her prospects against two opponents were poor, they were that much more dubious in view of her new injuries. I could send healing her way, but in the short time it would take her enemies to finish her, just how much could power could I generate? It is not easy to heal at such a distance. I did what I could, and I could see that she felt better. Still, I found myself thinking we would finish the day without her.By now several arrows had lodged themselves in the wall near the window occupied by the crossbowman across the street. Everyone from August to Kristen had attempted to harm the fellow, but none had come close. He leaned out the window and fired towards our party. It was a strange thing to me, because I could not see all my companions. For all I knew, someone I loved had just been killed. And yet the bolt might as easily have missed its target. I tried to study his reaction as our enemy pulled himself back from the window. Was he satisfied with the results? I just couldn’t tell. Things were happening too fast.Suddenly the Waggamaeph left the front lines and ran back to Carla. Adding himself to the general melee, little Blizzard struck out at a couple opponents and then I lost sight of him in the blur of battle.I turned back to see Seamus facing at least three formidable enemies. The remaining door guard lay dead a ways down the hall, though I knew not how he had been finished. One of Seamus’ opponents, a dwarf reared back with a great axe, hoping to deliver a decisive attack on our great knight. The dwarf paid for his overconfidence by receiving the point of a sword straight into his face. Honestly, I cringed, just to see this terrible blow. The fellow dropped his axe and fell to the ground with both hands to his face. In death, sometimes great warriors are indistinguishable from small girls.For all I know, the dwarf was a good fellow, albeit one who had clearly made some terrible decisions in his life. And there he lay kicking and crying for a few seconds. Then he was just kicking silently. His screams had taken the final breath of his life into the halls about us, leaving a body still trying to move about, as if to effect the behavior of the living.To see such things is terrible.I saw Michael shoot one of Seamus’ enemies. Tom complimented him on his fine marksmanship. When Tom added an arrow to the same foe’s injuries, Michael too expressed his moral support. And I took courage from their manners. If they could retain a sense of propriety amongst all this carnage, then surely I could muster the strength to play my part.Preparing to cast another spell, I leaned back to see if I would need to send the power back towards Carla. Strangely, I could see that both of her opponents were now dead and she was in the face of the bowman. Her injuries still hampering her as she bent over slightly with every move. And yet she proved more than a match for the unfortunate fellow. He seemed to be completely on the defensive and unable to draw his own sword. I thought for a moment to find Blizzard somewhere in melee across the street, but he ran right past me and back down the hallway to rejoin Seamus. I knew not whether he was healthy or harmed.I still do not know who killed Carla’s enemies. The Waggie? Carla? Perhaps Kristen or August. Spells from Bob or Patty might have played a role. I do not know.Tom now fired at one of Seamus’ foes, striking him full in the face and pinning him to the doorway. It was an amazingly precise shot made under difficult circumstances, not the least of which being the need to shoot around Seamus and myself. The poor fellow did not even fall. He just slumped against the doorway and his hands slowly released their strength. Anyone looking that way might easily have counted him as a running concern, for Seamus, especially. And yet, the life had left him well enough, most likely before he knew himself to be hurt.“Stop showing off, Tom.” Michael fired at another enemy, striking him in the gut. That fellow ran past the waggamaeph and down the second hallway towards the stairs. The waggamaeph ran again back through the hallway and across the street to rejoin Carla.I tried once again to see if my furry friend needed healing, but he moved past me with such speed that I had no sense of the matter.And then suddenly a half naked man burst through a door beside me and swung at me with an axe. Honestly what is it about me and axe wielding men? I seem to connect with them far more often than I would real prefer. More to the point, the converse is also quite true.  My new opponent swung wildly, opening a small gash in my arm. I swung back at him and then moved down the hall. Seeing an opening, I tried to pass by the battle between Seamus and his remaining foes to place myself at the bend in the hallway. One of those enemy in question was a powerful warrior, clad in chain male. ...again wielding an axe. I should have known!But I can tell you this fellow scored a very good hit straight into my ribcage. I could feel bones breaking and the air left the right side of my body. The sound that left my lips was in part a scream, in part a squeal, and in part a strange noise which I am not normally capable of making. I stood at the bend in the hallway nursing my wound and keening a moment. I was in trouble and I knew it. I took the healing power I had meant to use on my friends and cast it directly upon myself. It was not enough to fully heal my wounds, but I could feel breath fill my lungs again. I would use my next spell as originally intended for others.In a few moments, Carla and the Waggie had finished the remaining archer and the crossbowman. The waggie would of course charge across the street and down the hallway again, entering the common barroom in the same time it took Carla to simply cross the street. Honestly, I could not tell if he needed healing or not. When Carla entered the hallway, she had been healed (Bob, perhaps?), but I could tell that she was still in need of help. Lucky to be alive, she was, but not so lucky as to be smiling about it. Seamus finished his remaining foe, leaving the first hallway in our possession. With no enemies remaining to the rear and none in the first hallway, our opposition could now be found in the open bar and dining area....and around the bend to the other hallway.</blockquote>

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