Move 146: Fighting in the Mines
The Garlstone Mines--Afternoon, 2 Eleint 1374 DRThe halfling at the rear of the party obeyed Renn's command and fell to the ground.
Etienne went through Arachne's door. He reappeared at the other portal, behind the men. He stood there dazed by the dimensional transportation. Blacky followed him through, pushing the half elf out of the way as he did so, before standing there just as dazed as Etienne. A second halfling took this opportunity to step out of the shadows and attack Etienne with a dagger. The lantern bearer turned on Blacky with his sword, giving the disoriented fighter a minor wound. The man who had been awakened moments before got to his feet.
Jana shouldered her bow and pulled her sword. Aloysius moved to the side of the passage.
The sound of approaching footsteps hailed the appearance of two more men on the scene. One of them was an exceptionally grubby looking character with a long sword and the other a tall man of medium build with flaming red hair wearing splint mail and wielding a bastard sword.
Jana moved forward, as quickly as possible, to engage the lantern man.
Still crouching with his back to the wall, Aloysius drew a pair of daggers in case the baddies broke through the front line of fighters.
"Do you have rope, Renn? We should bind the halfling." Ceth asked, moving to disarm the halfling as she spoke.
Echo moved over to where Aloysius was crouching and put the lantern down beside him to free up her hands.
Etienne shook his head and the fog lifted. Turning to place his back to Blacky, "Never a dull moment with this bunch is there?" He braced himself and waited for the attack, using one scimitar to block with and the other to attack.
"No, I'm not carrying any," Rennirolas shook his head. He laid his sword and shield on the ground and quickly pulled the crecent moon emblazoned surcoat up over his elven mail. "Perhaps this will work," he suggested as he bent to tie the halfling.
Jana rushed forward into the fray with Blacky and Etienne. She was immediately engaged by the man who had just gotten to his feet. The man bearing the lantern that she was intent upon attacking turned his attention towards her as well. She took a wound from one of the men, but the other missed her. She, in turn, failed to administer any damage.
The halfling took another stab at Etienne. He was soon joined by the grubby looking man who had just joined the fight. Neither of them managed to hit him. Unfortunately, he didn't manage to hit either of them.
The red-haired man went after Blacky. He failed to hit him, but he moved with such unusual speed that it was impossible for Blacky to hit him either.
Ceth attempted to take the halfling's weapons, but he took exception to this as he awoke. He rolled away from her, and from Renn who was preparing an attempt to tie him up, getting to his knees before he prepared to defend himself against them.
Aloysius picked up the lantern that Echo left beside him and moved slightly further back. Snow looked at Daelen anxiously but seemed unwilling to join in the fighting without his master.
After a moment of hesitation, Daelen decided he'd be of more use at the larger skirmish and charged forward. "Snow, attack," he said as he closed and attacked the man on the left that Jana was fighting.
Jana growled and swung her sword two-handed at the man who'd hit her.
"Oh dear . . .", mumbled Aloysius, as he watched the battle progress. Setting his daggers on the ground next to him, he cast a spell.
Ceth sighed and tried to bash the halfling with her staff. "Not really a useful spell, after all, huh Renn."
Observing Etienne's and Blacky's dazed exits from the portal, Arachne muttered to herself, "They'd used it before; I thought they knew that the thing is pretty disorienting... Oh well." Once she'd assured herself that (a) no-one from her group wanted to risk using the doorway, and (b) there was now plenty of distraction at the yonder end, Arachne eased through the portal. There was something she wanted to try.
Echo looked up ahead at the fight farther down the tunnel and back at the halfling, Renn, and Ceth. She turned in their direction and cast a spell.
Blacky turned his attention and his axe to the red-haired man. "You're in too much of a hurry, let's slow you down a bit." He said as he swung and tried to manuever himself so that he could use the full effect of his axe.
The halfling on the ground in the rear of the group moved out of the way of Ceth's staff as he struggled to his feet, only to find himself hit with Renn's longsword. Soon after, a magic missile from Echo left him looking a bit worse for the wear.
Daelen and Snow headed forward into the fray. They attacked one of the men facing Jana. The man turned his attention toward them since Snow took a hunk out of his leg. The man cut the dog with his longsword. Jana took another hit from the man with the lantern.
Etienne and his two opponents continued their standoff. Arachne came through her portal and arrived, dazed, near the spot where Etienne, the halfling, and the human were fighting.
The red-haired man ignored Blacky's words and gave the man a solid blow with the bastard sword he was fighting with. In return, he took a hit from Blacky's great axe and found himself on the receiving end of a couple of magical bolts from Aloysius.
Seeing that Renn had the halfling well in hand, Cethyran began working her way up toward the front of the group, watching to see if Blacky would fall or fall back.
Daelen seemed to flinch as the man wounded his dog. He attempted to attack from his opponent's flank so the man would turn his attention away from Snow.
Jana pressed her attack against the man with the lantern, swinging once with her sword.
Aloysius analyzed the melee ahead of him before retrieving his daggers from the tunnel floor and waiting for an opening that he hoped would never come.
Renn took a minor dagger wound before the halfling fell to the elf's longsword.
Etienne continued to fight with his scimitars, this time managing to give the man facing him a glancing blow. The halfling remained unscathed but ineffectual.
Jana dealt the man facing her a brutal wound. He staggered but remained standing and wounded the woman further in return.
Daelen distracted the man who had attacked Snow with a blow from his brightly lit sword. The man was more than willing to change opponents, cutting into Daelen with a longsword.
The red-haired man sneered at Blacky as they continued to fight, again dealing the fighter an easy blow with his bastard sword. Blacky attacked ferociously, giving the fast moving man another chop with his axe. Both fighters were obviously feeling the force of the other's attacks now.
Aloysius, Cethyran, and Echo watched the melee from their position further back in the tunnel. Arachne stood in the midst of chaos, apparently ignored for the moment.
"You're pretty good, but not good enough I'll bet." Blacky said through clenched teeth as he tried to finish the man off before being taken down himself.
Jana growled and swung viciously at the man.
Daelen, knowing his partner's powerful jaws to be just as effective as any sword, hacked at his opponen't defences to give Snow a chance to put his teeth to use.
Aloysius picked up the lantern and walked over to the passage that branched off to the southwest (assuming
the top of Grizzler's map is north). He resheathed one of his daggers, and clutched the other dagger in his free hand. He directed the beam from the lantern down the passage and looked to see what he could see.Refraining from using her sling for the moment, Arachne evidently went to tap the halfling on the shoulder... or whatever she could reach from behind him.
Echo moved toward the fight, specifically toward the man who was still asleep.
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