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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GodOfCheese" data-source="post: 1594690" data-attributes="member: 19170">Battle-ChatterThe slugs, now well-illuminated by Chloe, have mounted a fighting withdrawl to a room separate from the barn, with a much lower ceiling.  There they form a defensive line while those in back (protected from the adventurers) work on something attached to the floor.  Davron advances into the doorway, his tar-dripping swords held at the ready.  Chloe is right behind him, shining her holy symbol at arm’s length for additional illumination.  Andrew, his back to the wall, keeps Chloe between him and the slug-front.  Behind them, Effrem climbs hastily down from his perch on the roof, not bothering to be quiet this time.   Davron and the slug skirmishers trade a few feints; neither faction ready to give up the doorway to the other and enable an advance by his opponent.  Simultaneously though, neither is willing to spend any time in the doorway (exposed to attack from all sides) to hold it.  This minor architectural feature is simultaneously a tactical weakness and a strategic necessity.   Behind him, Effrem steps off the wall and readies his bow, rushing carefully past Andrew to train an arrow at the mob of slugs swinging and jabbing at Davron.  When he reaches Chloe, he looses an arrow into the mass of bodies, being rewarded by a green flare within.  With this, the slugs back away, reorganizing to put polearms between themselves and Davron to slow his pursuit.Chloe steps in behind a winded and bleeding Davron, brandishing her Morningstar to aid him in beating back the halberds and poleaxes.  “Don’t falter now, Davron, we have them on the run!”Effrem, advancing slowly enough to carefully fire a few arrows over his two compatriots’ shoulders, is more skeptical.  “I’m not so sure, Chloe.”  He pauses to train on a slug who is moving fast behind and parallel to the skirmish line.  With a twang of Effrem’s bowstring and an emerald flash of sanctified energy, the slug crumples over and disappears behind the wall of bodies.  “This seems almost too easy.  They outnumber us at least ten to one—why are they retreating?”“It’s a trick, obviously!” calls Andrew, firing his crossbow from behind the cover of a moldy support beam.  “Your friend is dead and they’re luring us into a trap!  We should retreat and fight them later, when we’ve had time to form a more effective strategy!”“No!” Chloe calls in a voice with equal parts desperate hope that Zara lives and angry disgust at Andrew’s willingness to give up so easily. “She’s dead, woman!”Davron parries the broad swing of a poleaxe with both swords crossed.   Over his shoulder he frustratedly utters, “A little help here?” before offering a quick (but ineffective) retaliatory stab.Chloe blinks, her attention returned to the present.  “We’re not leaving without her,” she shouts angrily, “and that’s final!” Exhaling to calm herself after successfully fending off the urge to add “or her corpse” to the middle of that statement, Chloe summons Pelor into herself and heals several of Davron’s wounds.  There are too many of them… eventually I’m going to drop my guard to heal him and they’ll skewer me.Andrew’s expression is one of obvious disagreement, but he sees no reason to run (yet), so he keeps to his position behind the degraded timber.  The foursome press (or blindly chase, from Andrew’s perspective) the slugs down a tight stone tunnel covered by a trapdoor, which the slugs had previously been working to expose behind the skirmish line.  Almost claustrophobically small, the shaft is a steep incline with old stairs carved into it.  This architectural feature proves to be yet another strategic mixed-bag for the party’s advance, because its close quarters negate the advantage afforded by the slugs’ polearms, but also hinders Davron’s ability to parry.  The descent is made without any real blows landed by either side, with each concentrating on defense.  Andrew, still hindmost in the barn, elects to remain silent.</blockquote>

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