Jana and her opponent continued to exchange blows. She hit him hard, causing him to falter on his feet. He failed to injure her any further. She swung at him again, but lost her balance on the swing. She quickly regained her footing. The man who had just come into the room with the spellcaster closed with her.
Blacky took out the fighter on him with another strong blow, but not before taking another minor wound himself. He hurried to Jana's side and took a second swing at the newcomer, cutting him open with his axe. The man still stood.
Johnt was unable to cut the priest again. The priest, however, smacked the farmhand with the same ensorceled rod that had felled Kuiper. Johnt staggered for a moment and collapsed to the floor beside his friend.
Jyothki came out of the center door from the back of the house. She stabbed the wizard standing near there with a knife. Unfortunately, he had not begun the actual incantation of his spell when she did so. However, as he began to chant, Echo appeared behind him, shoving her dagger into his back, successfully interrupting his casting.
A loud groan of pain came from the door on the left. The priest, now free from opponents, charged in that direction.
The tumble of fighters that include Jana and Blacky exchanged blows with one another with Blacky refusing to leave Jana to finish them. One of the fighters went down from a blow from Blacky's axe, and both Blacky and Jana were further wounded.
Jyothki jumped at the mage, attempting to grapple him to the ground. She grabbed onto him but he shook her off before she could take him down. He quickly cast a spell at the two women fighting him; there was no effect. Echo stabbed him again with her dagger, this time in the chest. When she pulled it free, he slumped to the ground.
The priest ran unopposed into the other room.
Will came into the room; the paralysis that was holding him outside the door had worn off.
Will joined Blacky in battling the final fighter in the room. Blacky took another wounnd, but then quickly felled the man, nearly cleaving his right leg at the knee.
Echo knelt beside Kuiper and Johnt, checking them for signs of life.
Jana managed to get to the other room ahead of Jyothki. When she stepped in, she got a dagger in the back, right below her neck. The half-elven woman who backstabbed her looked surprised that she did not fall and stepped away, running into Jyothki on her way into the room. Jyothki, surprised as well, cut her with the knife she had in her hand.
Also in the room was a man in splint mail slumped against the wall who seemed to be recovering from something. The priest and Lytern were on Azrun. When Lytern saw the half-elf wounded, he charged to her side. He seemed a little reluctant to hurt Jyothki, however; his half-hearted sword swing missed her entirely.
Jana ran towards the priest with murderous intent, hitting him with her bastard sword. Azrun deflected a blow from the priest's deadly mace with his quarterstaff. When the staff was struck, it shattered into pieces like it had been made of glass.
Jyothki jumped at the half-elven woman, but failed to overbear her. Echo stuck her dagger in the woman's side and she slid to the floor. Lytern screamed, in pain or horror, and slumped to the floor as well.
The priest took another swing at Azrun with his magical mace, but missed. The mace disappeared. Jana and Blacky both wounded the priest; Will did not.
Azrun struggled to pick up a heavy oak chair and tried to hit the man in splint mail with it. The man moved aside, still bent over, and the chair hit the wall. He recovered enough to grab his mace from the floor, then swing at Azrun, although he missed.
Jyothki and Echo joined the fight with the priest. Both attacked and missed him. Before anyone else could attack him again, he called to his god and the room filled with darkness. Blacky fumbled, his axe clattering to the floor. The others, thrown off by the darkness, missed their attacks against the wounded priest as well.
"Bastard priest," muttered an unfamiliar male voice. "I surrender," he yelled into the darkness.
It was too risky for those without the practice of fighting in the dark to attack without killing one of their comrades. Fortunately, the sound of chanting gave Jana a target. The chanting ended with the sound of a body hitting the floor. The room remained dark.
"Did you get him, Jana!" Blacky yelled.
"Yeah," Jana replied, her voice strained, "I got him." She reached down and grabbed the priest, dragging his body out of the darkness.
Blacky fumbled for his axe and made his way into the lighted area. He called for the surrendering fighter to come out, drop his weapons and remove his armor. Blacky tried to ascertain if the armor would fit him, Jana, or Gala while he simultaneously questioned and kept an eye on the man, holding his axe tight.
"It's dark," Echo remarked pointlessly. "Can someone tie up whoever surrendered? I'm going to get Gala. Kuiper and Johnt are badly hurt, and they need someone who knows what they're doing to look at them. I think they may have some broken bones."
With that, Echo made her way out of the room and across the village to Tauster's.
