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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1423818" data-attributes="member: 15043">Laboratory Battle... “Open up!  Renee!  Open the door!” the shouting grew louder, and the door handle jiggled vigorously.  Renee, her face clad with a look of panic, dashed over quickly.“I’m coming, hold on!  Let us get this cleaned up some!” she called, looking back at the party as she unlocked the door.  “Its a mess in here!  I’ll warn you!””If we did not open it, they would have brought it down.” her voice echoed in their heads as she saw the looks of betrayal that started forming on their faces.Tess nodded as the door flew open, and the two burly females strode in, followed by two guards with long swords, two with bastard swords, and two men clad in robes.  Apprentices? Tess’ mind asked.  Think Tess, think!“What the hell happened in here!” the lead guardsman, a woman with long black hair bellowed.  Her two scimitars glistened rose and ice blue in the air as she unsheathed them menacingly, their pale light reflecting off of her armored breastplate.  “This place is a wreck!””Um... we had an accident,” Tess said quickly, walking forward.  She veered to the left, cocking an eyebrow of interest at one of the male longswordmen.  In reality, she had a plan, and watched with glee as Grumki followed behind closely.  “My half orc friend took a spill... he’s rather large, and sadly many things spilled with him... how are you?” she sidled up to her target with a grin, all the while leaning closer and closer to the door, and more importantly, the lock...What is Tess doing?  I know she’s not hitting on that guardsman, but she’s getting herself isolated over there...  I’d better get closer too...  “Yeah, Grumki is a klutz,” Siabrey blurted out, taking a position in front of the two towering women with their scimitars.  To an outsider the view might have been comedic... the short and petite Siabrey staring right into the eyes of the two massive women in front of her (6’4” and 6’6” each).  Her katana was not drawn, but her hands were in front, in their position to be able to reach down quickly and slash upwards as she drew her blade...Luke, what are you doing? Siabrey’s mind started to gripe, as she saw her love slide up beside her, silent.  Part of her realized what he was doing... He’s trying to protect me... but I’m supposed to be protecting HIM! her mind protested, remembering all too easily the fate that nearly befell him a week earlier.  If the situation hadn’t been as tense, she likely would have chastised him for getting so close to the frontline.Orion uneasily took a position on the other side beside Siabrey, his hands idly by his sides.  While he was confident he was drawing the least notice of the group, he did not like how the guards were thumbing their weapons... or how the two apparent spell casters were making arcane movements over the scimitar women in front...Tess saw the sorcerer’s movements as well, and her mind wondered.  What are they doing?  She sidled even closer to the door... now only inches from her quarry as she made eyes at the second male longswordman as well.  The two guards seemed to be slightly distracted by her attentions... they let her get closer.  That’s right... keep smiling... she thought quietly as she drew up beside the lock on the door.  She leaned back against it with a sultry smile, and the door edged back slightly.  Good, there’s no one in the doorway trying to get in... which means there’s no one in the doorway to block the door when I do THIS!With a heave, Tess leaned back with all of her strength, and the door slammed shut with a loud thunder.  Her hands were already right beside the locks, and several loud clicks echoed in the air.  No sooner than this happened than Grumki grabbed both of the guardsmen before their looks of lust could be completely replaced by looks of confusion, and with the throat of one in each hand, he hefted them skyward with a roar.The valkyrie guard that did not have her scimitars drawn snapped them out of their scabbards, and with deadly precision, spinning like a whirlwind of blade, striking Siabrey, Orion, and Tess with a blade that crackled with electricity, and another that burned of fiery flame.  She moved with unearthly speed and grace (the sorcerer’s had put haste on both to speed up their attacks and improve their dodging ability, while putting cat’s grace on them to improve their reaction time... with deadly efficiency.  Both fighters had whirlwind attacks, improved criticals, and a host of other nasty feats <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> )Her compatriot, who already had her blades out, focused with vicious fury upon Tess in an effort to get to the door and unlock it.  Her blades also slashed through the air as a moving wall of steel, and Tess felt electricity jolt into the depths of her nerves and fire scald her skin as the blades cut deeply and viciously.  Tess’ body cried out in pain as she stumbled away from her assailant.No one in the party knew at that moment exactly what Renee did... later they deduced it had something to do with psionics.  The girl stared intently at the scimitar woman who had harmed Tess, a flame of betrayal in her eyes.  The scimitar woman was drawn to her gaze, and then suddenly froze in place (the equivalent of hold person).As they saw what befell their friend Tess, Siabrey and Orion viciously assault the woman that had attacked all of them.  Siabrey’s katana slashed laterally as she drew it from her scabbard, tearing a deep hole in her opponents belly armor, while a flurry of heavy blows from Orion’s fists and kicks sent the swordwoman reeling.  Shaun jumped into the melee as well, his rapier however, not finding its intended target.Seeing that his love and the monk were handling the scimitar woman well, Lucius focused his attentions on the two warriors in scale armor carrying bastard swords.  They were still standing with looks of shock on their face, behind the now still scimitarwoman.  Five missiles of light slashed through the air and slammed into one of them, leaving charred areas across his armor.From Elenya, in the back of the laboratory, came a shout of fury, and a massive blue arc, even larger than the one’s they’d seen before, cascades through the room, striking the same swordman that Lucius struck.  The  man almost falls back on his rear as small arcs of electricity continue to jump over his armor and his body.As these magical assaults occurred, Pellaron and Aristophle both drew their blades and charged towards the hapless bastardswordmen, seeing that their foes too were drawing theirs.  Pellaron’s githanil blade spun through the air as meat cleaver slices through bone, and one of the bastardswordmen fell to the ground howling.Grumki, given a couple seconds in the confusion to realize the ease with which he held his two quarry, decided it was time for him to enter the fray.  Alas, he could not draw his warhammer... his hands were busy holding two screaming, struggling longswordmen.  So Grumki did the next best thing...With all his might, Grumki heaved both swordmen at one of the two sorcerers as the man started conjuring up a spell.  As the two bodies slammed into the hapless mage, a series of sickening cracks echoed through the air when the pile landed on the ground, as three necks were broken by the impact.  The crumpled bodies now blocked the door.  (DM’s Note:  Kudos to Grumki’s player for being creative <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />.   Grumki in combat is played by Tess’ player, and she asked if she could throw the two longswordmen.  I ruled it required a strength check and a ranged attack.  Grumki passed both with flying colors, the strength check so high that I gave Grumki an extra d6 worth of damage the two inflicted on the hapless sorcerer and themselves... the total was 5d6 damage on the sorcerer, and 3d6 on each of the longswordmen... the longswordmen were not high level, and went squish, as did the sorcerer...)Nearby, Siabrey, Orion, and the remaining moving scimitar woman had a lively duel going, as the woman’s scimitars leapt through the air, Orion dodged and Siabrey parried, both having their attacks parried or dodged in return.  Their friends could barely see them as any more than a blur, all three swung, sidestepped, and dodged so quickly.  Shaun’s blade was the only one of the party’s to find its target, and even then his thrust only grazed the woman’s shoulder.Finally, a blow was connected, not by Siabrey or Orion, but by the scimitarwoman, whose tow blades sliced into Siabrey with vicious power.  Her first swing with her flaming weapon broke off Siabrey’s shoulder armor, burning her skin.  Her second blow with her electric scimitar slammed into Siabrey’s belly, sending jolts through her body, while her third and fourth blows, alternating between the two weapons, slammed into her chest and her thigh respectively.  Siabrey reeled, and nearly fell over, blood pouring out of many wounds across her body.Pellaron continued his whirling assault with his githanil blade, nearly ripping open the throat of one bastardswordman that had the nerve to try and swing at the paladin.  Both he and Aris now face down the held scimitar woman, knowing their allies in the rear will hold off the other, electrocuted man with a bastard sword.Lucius saw Siabrey reel back from the scimitar woman, blood streaming out of her stomach, thigh, and shoulder, and a fury took over him;  In many ways, it was similar to the fury that had led him to do many of the horrible acts earlier... but this time, he was in full control of himself.  He pointed a finger at the woman who hurt his love, and with a roar, shot forth five magical bolts, which hit her in the chest.  Then, his sword came out, Ik-Mataar reveling in his first chance at real combat.True to expectation, Elenya gives another shout, as magical bolts shoot from her hand into the wounded bastard sword guard, sending him to an early grave as his armor was shattered around him, the shrapnel burying itself in his heart.The final living sorcerer, seeing the grisly fate of his compatriot, ran towards the door now blocked by bodies, and desperately began trying to open it, screaming for help.  (DM’s Note:  I ruled after seeing a giant half orc pick up two people and use them to crush his friend... he needed a morale check.  He failed... miserably)  As his screams of, “For the love of all that is holy! Open the door!” rang in the air, Grumki reached over and grabbed him, hefting skyward.Orion, seeing Lucius’ assaults had pushed the scimitar woman to the edge, dashed over to Grumki.  As the half orc held the sorcerer high in the air, Orion proceeded to deliver a series of precise, furious punches, two deliberately aimed at the man’s kidneys.  The flurry of six blows came in the space of just as many seconds, and the man began vomiting blood.  Deciding he was no threat anymore, Grumki dropped him on the ground next to his compatriots.Siabrey, badly wounded, saw Lucius draw his blade, and instinctively her protectiveness came in.  He shouldn’t run up into combat like that! her mind cried out.  I must protect HIM! her mind snarled.   As she readied herself, she saw Shaun duck in front of her, trying to keep himself between her and the massive guard.With a roar, she hurled herself at hulking scimitar woman, dodging past the defending Shaun.  The guard had turned momentarily with Orion’s dash over towards Grumki.  With her back turned, Siabrey had too easy of a target.  Her katana slashed down, and the guard found herself split open from the back of her head, down through her spine, to her tailbone.  Siabrey then pulled back, and with a final thrust, skewered the woman through the liver.  The fighter placed a foot on the woman’s back, and yanked her sword out as the massive guard fell dead to the ground.Aris meanwhile was pummeling the held scimitarwoman, who continued to yell threats at the party.  Siabrey joined him, though unlike Aris’ nonlethal strikes, Siabrey chops her head off before grasping her knees and breathing hard at the battle’s end.</blockquote>

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