Etienne and his opponent faced off against each other in the cluttered room. The man had a gold earring in his right ear, which is not as interesting as the fact that his left ear is half-gone. He swiped at Etienne with his short sword, but the half-elf easily caught the blade on one of his scimitars. He struck back, only to have his own attack deflect off the bracers the man wore.
The alarm Aloysius felt at the sight of Echo getting munched by the dog brought him out of his cover. He fired a pair of daggers at the dog as he approached it from behind. As he did so, he said, "Arachne! Echo be in need of aid!"
Echo tried desperately to keep the dog from biting her again by shoving a dagger into its mouth. She failed as the beast tried to snap off the offending hand, but she pulled back in time to avoid further injury. She also managed to avoid the onslaught of daggers that Aloysius threw her way, one hitting the wall behind her head and the other clattering harmlessly to the floor. Arachne began to creep in Echo's direction.
Jana pressed her attacks against the woman in chain mail, still failing to finish her off. She was joined by the man and dog who had emerged from the north room moments earlier. The woman's fighting grew more fierce as support arrived, and she began trying to force Jana against the north wall. Kaileer buried himself behind his shield long enough to scoop his spear off the ground.
Blacky now faced two of the men who had taken Rumer down. The axe-wielding fighter seemed to be having trouble keeping his footing in the mud as he slipped and recovered yet again. Both of the men tried to take advantage of his fumbling. The man with the bastard sword gave Blacky a smile revealing the lack of his two front teeth as he swung his blade at him, but the splint mail he had taken off the merc back in Thurmaster prevented either of them from giving him anything more than bruises.
The third man who had ganged up on the unfortunate gypsy threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, taking no care not to injure Rumer further or to keep her skirt and ripped blouse where they should be. He took off across the courtyard with her, heading for the door on the east side of the courtyard.
The boy continued to run around the courtyard, unable to shake the snarling dog off his heels.
As Aloysius considered another volley of dagger fire, he realized that he ran the substantial risk of hitting Echo instead. He continued to close in on the dog with dagger in hand and attempted to slash the beast from behind.
Blacky was unphased by the stalemate and tried to keep his feet from going out on him. He continued to concentrate his swings on the man with the bastard sword. "Nice smile, you don't mind if my friend uses that sword when you're dead, do you?"
"Dammit," Jana growled. She tried now to move back to the doorway as she continued to smash at the stubborn Chain Chick. "Echo? You okay?" Jana called out over her shoulder during a pause between swings.
"There's a dog after me!" Echo yelled in return. She tried to keep the dog from biting her again.
The dog tried to bite Echo again, but she jumped out of the way, no easy task in the cluttered room they were in. Arachne made it over to her side and started trying to do something about the bite she took earlier. Aloysius tried to stab the dog from behind with his dagger, but was unable to hit the mangy creature.
The crazy-looking, half-eared man slipped his short sword through Etienne's defenses. His sharp blade slid through the half-elf's armor like it wasn't there, giving Etienne a fearsome bloody wound to the gut. The sudden loss of blood threw off Etienne's own attacks, leaving his opponent still unwounded.
The dog at the door with Kaileer continued to snap at the elf. Kaileer pushed the dog back slightly with his shield, opening up the door a little more.
Jana was now battling the woman in chain, a man in leather armor with a short sword, and another of those hideous dogs. She smashed into the woman with her mace again, stunning her with the force of the blow. She looked as though a strong breeze would knock her down, but she still stood. Both man and dog failed to do any injury to Jana.
As Blacky taunted the unfortunate looks of the man with the bastard sword, he chopped into him with his axe. He remained oddly silently as Blacky's axe hit his left hand, and kept fighting despite the debilitating injury.
The dog chasing the boy around the courtyard finally caught up with him, chomping into him as he did. The boy screeched for help and turned to defend himself with his long sword. He smacked the dog with his blade and continued to yell.
The bandit carrying Rumer disappeared through the door on the east side of the courtyard.
Arachne continued to try to bandage Echo as the woman danced around the dog. Echo tried to stab the dog with a dagger and failed. Aloysius did actually poke the beast to give it a slight wound, but it also turned the dog's attention on the wizard. The dog snapped at him, but only caught the cloth of his robes in its sharp teeth.
After being dealt a serious wound only moments earlier, Etienne tried to block off the man's attacks with his two scimitars. He was in a weakened state, and the man moved with an agility that allowed him to penetrate Etienne's defenses again. Etienne wobbled on his feet and looked close to death, although he remained standing.
Kaileer jabbed at the dog with his spear and pushed the mutt back with his shield. He got them both clear of the doorway finally, but the dog bit him savagely again. The elven ranger's blood flowed freely from the multiple bites, and the dog growled and snarled, ready to make the kill.
The woman in chain mail, near death herself, made a final valiant effort to finish off Jana. She cut through with her long sword to wound Jana just as Jana crushed the offending sword arm with her mace. The long sword tumbled to the ground, and its wielder followed right after it. The man in leather and the dog still fighting Jana failed to wound her any further, and the attack she made against the man missed as well.
Blacky's two oppenents tried to circle around the muscular man to put him at a disadvantage. The man with the bastard sword was moving slowly due to his wounds. Blacky sent him sprawling into the mud with another chop from his axe. The other man looked at Blacky in terror but did not run from the deadly fighter.
The boy hit the dog with his longsword again and the dog finally turned to run, cowering off to a dark part of the courtyard. The skinny kid paused then made a run for the east door.
"You're smart to be afraid, you'd be even smarter to drop that sword and run away. You can't win, not here, not against me." Blacky finished with confidence waiting for the man's reaction.
Jana smiled nastily, then turned her attention to the man and dog attacking her. She smashed at the man, holding her shield down to protect herself somewhat from the dog. "Blacky," she said fairly quietly, not looking over at him, "there are at least two archers out there, shooting at the dog chasing that kid."
Aloysius spotted the staggering half-elf in the corner of his eye. Without regard for the mangy mutt trying to make a chew toy out of him, the scrawny mage pointed a finger at the man fighting Ettiene and muttered something under his breath.
Arachne kept trying; with the dog's attention diverted, it might have gotten easier. "I really think you should stop bleeding before you do anything else," the gnome muttered to her impatient patient.
"Let him bite you and see how you feel about standing still while he tries to do it again," Echo muttered back at her impatient nurse. She continued to stab at the dog with her dagger.
"But he's not trying to -- any more -- Oh, never mind." Arachne stood back. "Point taken. Kill the damned beast, then."
Even as Echo and Arachne decided to have a conversation on the proper behavior of patients fighting dogs, Echo managed to stab the dog again with her dagger, distracting it from Aloysius long enough to allow the man to cast his spell. Two bolts of magical energy slammed into Etienne's opponent, leaving two burned holes in the back of the man's tunic. He continued his onslaught on Etienne, but the half-elf's weak defenses were enough to keep him from getting through for now.
The man fighting Jana fumbled with his short sword, dropping the weapon to the muddy ground. Unable to defend himself against her mace, he took a hard hit from the fighter. The dog snipped at Jana ineffectively.
Something held the man facing Blacky in the melee, although it was obvious that he wanted to run. Blacky took him down with another clean axe stroke and turned to help Kaileer, who was still trying to fend off the fierce dog. The dog, like most other things in the courtyard, proved to be little match for Blacky's weapon. Just as he finished him off, however, two arrows struck Blacky in the back and neck, seriously injuring him.
The heavy sound of the brass bell rang out again, three clean deep chimes...BRHHMOMM...BRHHMOMM...BRHHMOMM....
Kaileer started to thank the large warrior but his expression turned to worry as the two arrows hit him. Making sure Blacky wouldn't fall over, he moved himself and his shield to protect the warrior from further arrows.
"Blacky, you help fight in room! Tell Arachne make ready for open door. We not can continue fight for long... I help Jana."
"Dammit, they have us outnumbered and they can't fight us face to face. Kailier, if you could find some cover and take down that archer, I'd appreciate it. Otherwise, we'd better retreat to that room." Blacky said as he rushed back into the room to avoid more arrow fire. Once there, he struck at the half eared man's unprotected back.
"I'm fine," Jana said, still edging back to the doorway. "Help Echo."
Aloysius's displeasure at seeing old half-ear shrug off his spell like morning dew was compounded by the sounds of the bell. "Damn," he muttered under his breath. Not wanting to leave Echo to the tender mercies of the dog, he resumed his dagger attack, hopefully from behind once again.
