Marita's attention immediately snapped over towards the building across the street when the shutters flew open. Crossbowmen set up for an ambush? There was no way she would have been able to predict that. They were probably here to take Mallard, something like this would be absolutely overkill unless there was something else at play she didn't know about. In any case, them having free reign to shoot at them without a care in the world was not a state of affairs that she'd allow to maintain. If they were to be part of the battle, they would have to endure their share of risk. Marita pointed at the Guard in the window directly across from her.

"STRIKE."

Inside the building, next to the guard, a wicked spectral dagger appeared and immediately embedded itself in his midsection. After pushing itself in to the hilt, it withdrew, the tip waving from side to side as if deciding which Guard it wanted to stab next.

With the artillery given something else to worry about, Marita focused her attention on the main battle taking place. The others had already taken some nasty blows, and although it was tempting to try to salve their wounds, she hadn't the resources to outheal the damage that could be dealt in a battle. Right now they needed to seize the momentum of battle and end things quickly before something really bad could happen. Marita kicked a nearby puddle, throwing droplets of water water all over the other combatants. On its own accomplishing nothing, but providing the medium with which to cast her next spell.

"Moon and Star, grant your blessing upon thee."

As the water fell upon Blackberry, Kathryn and Kosara the drops turned into light before disappearing, and they felt themselves filled with renewed vigor, the latter two able to recognize it as the blessing she had bestowed upon them just a day prior.

"Kathryn, take this opportunity to strike now!" With these taken care of, Marita picked up her shield from the ground beside her. She likely had just painted a large target on herself, and unlike Kosara, had the presence of mind to gain as much protection as she could for herself as she could.

---

@Remipa Awesome You're up.

"Bloody hell." Kathryn mumbled as two crossbowmen began to fire from above. She debated ditching Cavendish to deal with the two shooters, but she worried about any additional tricks the constable had up his sleeves. Had she been within a part of people geared like herself she may have had someone sent up there to stall the shooting until they could clean up the streets and support the brave fool. But she and Marita were the only ones who could likely take sustained hits against multiple foes for more then a couple moments. No, they would have to wait. Once Cavendish was dealt with then maybe things would change. For now they needed to finish what they started. She worried seeing Blackberry being struck by by one of the bolts with a direct hit. If they weren't fast those crossbowmen would trickle away at them until they were combat ineffective. In her distraction she wasn't quick enough to spot Cavendish from striking at her. She saw the blade drawn and slide across her armor taking small specks of rust with it. Had she not been focused on the fast a man was trying to kill her, it would have been a great reminder that her rusted chainmail was due for another sanding job. The second attack was sloppier, and Kathryn was ready for it to come this time around. She brought up her shield to take the brunt of the damage causing little more then a scuff on a shield that could have been as old as herself. She hoped the wood dulled his blade. Not for any practical reason, simply out of petty spite.

Victoria's magic had rejuvenated her a bit. Though she was still roughed up it hurt less, and she didn't feel like she was dying at all. So overall a win. Kathryn would have to learn more about the kind of magic that her fellow party members offered as she was clearly out of her depth. Between Marita's ability to forcibly calm people, Victoria's ability to use music to heal people, and Kosara's horns of... Glowing fire? No it didn't quite seem like fire, but her lack of experience showed again as she couldn't even think of something to compare it too. Then there was Blackberry and his extra arms. How long had he been able to do that? Who knew? Not Kathryn. As the battle raged on she hoped Blackberry and Kosara could hold out long enough until Kathryn could run over and help. God she hoped so. Then she saw the guard that had stabbed her bring his blade to Kosara. "Kosara!!!" She needed to finish things with Cavendish. And fast. Blackberry seemed to be holding up a bit better though, so that was good news at least.

She kept focus on Cavendish. She would be much help if she let this brute get a foothold again, or stab her in the back. It seemed Marita was giving the crossbowmen something to think about. Good, maybe it would divert their attention a bit while they wrapped up in the streets. And like that, Marita bought Kathryn a chance to strike. With renewed vigor she swung the hammer around with the force that one could not parry. Your options against it were to dodge it or be prepared to take a pounding. The first swing Cavendish avoided, but as if on a spring Kathryn swung it back with connection and an audible crunching noise that could make someone question the return options for the armor they purchased. Kathryn withdrew the hammer from Cavendish's side and changed her stand to bring the warhammer into the center of his chest. She stepped into this strike with full intentions of bringing him down onto the stone road, hopefully pinning him and forcing him into reason since violence was his language of choice.

Stepping into her swing she swung the hammer with such ease she may have well been a kid whipping a birch stick at one of her friends playing knights, dragons, and princesses. A game which Kathryn did all three roles rather well as a kid. It struck home with another audible crunch as metal struck metal. And she briefly swore she could hear the wind knocked out of his chest and sucked back in as Kathryn regained her own footing and prepared another strike. To her surprise, he still stood. Catching his footing much like herself post swing. She had to remind herself, this was no small goblin, nor untrained bandit. Cavendish was an experienced lawman, and it wouldn't surprise her if this lawman had proper combat experience. At the least, he had the foresight to set up backup in an advantageous position. No, he knew how to fight, and he had at least some incline of tactical thought. Going all in at once was a great way to find herself worn down fast and beaten down when she couldn't fight back anymore.

Looking at Cavendish though, he was roughed up. And it was taking a physical toll on him. She wondered if she herself had looked that rough at the start of battle? No, he had been struck far harder, and much more often. Maybe he could be reasoned with? Or maybe he was the selfish bully Kathryn had begun to imagine him as, and had a strong sense of self preservation. "Cavendish! Stop this senseless violence." She blurted out in what she hoped was a forceful tone, but came out as more frustrated then anything else. "You're losing. Stand down before things get worse for you and your men. We can still end this peacefully. Stand down while before things get out of control, and before lines are crossed that can't be uncrossed." The more she spoke though the more it dawned on her how useless this may be. Cavendish still had a lot of advantages up his sleeve. And shy of some bruises and punishment the other guards took, Cavendish was the only one who was showing any real signs of wearing down. Much of her reasoning now was hoping he was a selfish bastard with a stronger will of self preservation then any mission he made up for himself. In preparation for retaliation, she raised her shield to face him and pulled his hammer to the side preparing to strike again.

@Sigil Cavendish may surrender now.

Oh, that woman who stepped out of the silversmith's place had royally screwed up now. She was manifesting something that was obviously magical, and that was Guard 4's cue to insert a crossbow bolt into one part of her skull or another. This was coming. She had to realize this by now. He took careful aim and exhaled slowly. This was going to hurt.

It turned out, it did hurt. Very, very much. The Guard hadn't quite noticed that a painful looking dagger comprised of spiritual energy had manifested right next to him until it sank heavily into his gut. This was the opposite of what he intended to happen over the course of the next few moments. Pure, dogged determination saw him squeezing the release mechanism and firing off his weapon in Marita's direction, but the shock and pain of the attack saw the bolt fly wide.

"Back! Back!" exclaimed the Guard to his companion in the raised bailey, as he himself scrambled out of sight of the fighting below. The hope was that the weapon needed to be guided by an unbroken view and was not fully autonomous. It had been a while since he had been hurt like this.

Hoarse laughter followed the tall woman's plea for their surrender. It was damn near adorable if it wasn't such a pitiful attempt at appealing to some sense of something that likely wasn't ever in his character int he first place. Such a naive young warrior. No, Cavendish was going to be quite content to insert his very painful looking shortsword into various places of her anatomy until any concept of mercy or goodwill in combat was cut out in the same manner as a novice butcher might hack apart his first lamb - messily and without any particular plan.

Maybe it was a joke. Yes that must be it. No one would actually spout that nonsense seriously in the middle of mortal combat in a rainy street. The Constable eyed Kathryn and opened his mouth to speak, a sneer forming on his lips, but he paused. The sound of one of the guards in their makeshift murder-hole above calling out gave him a split second to think. A quick glance around gave him as much of an assessment as he wanted. Then he spoke. "Nothing changes! SCATTER!" It was apparent that he was speaking to his Guards at that moment, but the next words were for Kathryn alone, "I'll have that hammer back soon enough." It carried the weight of a promise from a dedicated man. Something which bothered him in this moment was that Kathryn would probably believe that his coming course of action had something to do with her speech about surrendering.

He sidestepped and broke into a run with remarkable agility, tearing off in a generally northeastern direction toward a side street. A mist, thick as any fog that ever was, formed around him and dissipated in an instant, leaving nothing of itself nor Cavendish remaining.

Victoria's song continued to play, with those around to hear it making interesting and unexpected moves. This was not exactly the grand and sweeping circular movements of a formal ball, complete with curtsies and bows to accentuate the occasion before one sets off, but the end result of those feeling the melody of her music was sweet enough to count as a rousing success around the comparative peerage of this Township. Music amid blood and magic, Victoria had to admit, was exhilarating. A singular feeling she so rarely experienced unless something tragically eventful was afoot. In this way, the adventuring life had been good to her.

The abrupt exit of Cavendish took her by surprise. This probably did would not bode well in the coming future, but precious time might have been brought if only they could capitalize upon it. Along with this assumption, another came in the form of the flash of magic coming from the window above thanks to Marita. Was this an all-out attack, or a means of interrupting the sniper shots coming at them? If it was the latter, she intended to help. If it was the former, she might owe the Cleric an apology later.

A swift mental command changed the standing orders of her meaty bodyguard, Morty, who began to move toward its master with its uneven gait. Victoria let the music take her into graceful, dancing steps into the rain, immersing herself into the melody as it opened her to temporarily rewrite the complexities of the Weave around her (and closing distance to spell range). In this instance, the image of a brick wall formed over the window which Guard 3 was standing behind, cutting off his line of sight. Merely buying time, if this was the goal. Hopefully it would make the man behind the crossbow think hard if he intended to loose his weapon one last time before following the Constable's orders. At the very least he would have to waste time puzzling out if it was a solid conjuration or the illusion that it really was.

Diligently, Morty placed itself between Victoria and Guard 2 (at K13) to prevent an immediate attack on her person and potentially flank for her allies. The expression on the poor, dead beast was unreadable, thanks to the layers of burlap wrapped about it. And the fact that it was a mindless slab of animated meat.

@rivaan Kosara is up next. TAG!

He stabbed her. At her exclamation of pain from being stabbed by sharp and pointy metal object that drew some blood, piercing through the flash of Mage Armor and drew a shallow line. Then the spear was pulled back followed by a second attack that luckily by combination of magical armor, dexterity and luck missed clear off her. She let out a pained angry hiss at him. His a bit beastial traits as if intensifying. She was just about to explode into a string of very pointed and angry righteous words when there was a twang… and something struck her from the right side, drawing more blood and piercing through her magical armor.” Agh!” She exclaimed as she caught sight of the crossbow bolt that had struck her.

Between both the somewhat shallow wounds she had gotten so far, they added up to somewhat serious injury that had blood flowing out of the wounds, getting washed by the rain into her clothing, staining it red and making her feel just a tad numb, but very very angry. She had heard just moment’s earlier Kathryn’s exclamation and then the shouts of the guards. Yeah they were going to try to get away. She felt the gentle magic of Marita that blessed their abilities. And then the shouts from Cavendish with his swearing basically his revenge and Kosara just about had it with all of this. Her eyes flashed and so did her horns.

“CLESTIAL BLAST!” She shouted and fired another blast of energy at the guard that had just stabbed her moment’s earlier.” Evil cowardly rats! When I’m done with you, I will break your most favorite leg like grandpa says! I don’t know how a man can have a favorite leg, but if I break both of them I’m bound to get it!” She growled at him, barring teeth an glaring most angrily at him.

Guard One next!@Sigil

The bastard. The absolute bastard! Kathryn was glad to be wearing a helmet as her dumbfounded face would have shown anyone she was vulnerable to a strike in that moment. Kathryn had tried time and time again to get some reason out of the man. Sure, maybe she wasn't the most qualified person for such things. But the man was either crazy, or had an ego bigger then Kathryn herself. Kathryn eyed his sneer, and decided she was going to wipe it clean from his face. He wanted a fight, and Kathryn would give him one. "Have it your way then you wee bastard." Kathryn spoke coldly as she raised her shield and prepared the hammer for another swing. Then, he gave the order to scatter. No, no it couldn't end like this. If they got away they would only strike again and cause even more harm. Kathryn couldn't allow this.

Kathryn took some of Kosara's openly stated advice and decided it wasn't the worst option. Though she wasn't a fan of needless pain, Cavendish couldn't be allowed to escape. The Constable had insisted he would get his hammer back, so Kathryn obliged. "Here you go then." She said matter of factly as he made a break for it she swung the hammer down hard and fast against the side of his leg, hoping to either bring him down or slow him down long enough to restrain him. He tripped, stumbled, but kept going. He was away. And getting away meant he could, and would strike again. She wanted to give chase to the injured man, but she hesitated. If she did, she would be facing him likely alone, and leaving her team with the rest of the guards as well. The hesitation was enough though to let him made ground though.

Fun, so much fun to be had later. This was not exactly part of it. A fair fight was to be avoided if at all possible and this exchange of hurt wasn't the ambush/quick kidnapping that they had expected. The order came from the Constable, who so far had kept their loyalty well enough by various means and, most importantly, it make sense. There was a good chance, in Guard 1's estimation (despite the harm that had come to him so far), that they could still pull a win out of this. The cost might have been too high, factors considered. So he did as ordered.

A hissing sound escaped his lips as his features shifted slightly. Still grasping his spear with one hand, his fingers elongated slightly and came to end in short, wicked claws. Eyes became beady and reflective of a distinct redness common to rodentkind, and he bent lower to the ground. These changes were in detail purely; the Guard did not fully take a different form. But he did use his newfound low center of gravity to scramble backward, carefully but quickly, as he roguishly Disengaged from the fight in front of him. When out of immediate striking range, he burst away into a dead run, Dashing as fast as his feet would carry him. He ran to the west, along the main road as he looked for a good evasion spot.



Guard 2 went through a similar transformation, slight but easily notable from this close distance. Rodent-y features scrawled themselves across his previously sneering but otherwise average looking face. Between the three-armed Dragonborn and whatever the hell was staring at him beneath its burlap armor that followed the violinist, he wholeheartedly agreed with the order to scatter. Also as with his colleague, he took part in a very roguish Disengage before sprinting away in a different direction than Guard 1 - hence the command of scatter - at a Dash.

Right as he rounded the corner of the building nearest him with the intent of heading south, his slowed just enough to look back at the rest of the people in front of the silversmith's place. Guard 2 even seemed to intentionally take the turn wide, as if to telegraph his intended destination. A ploy or a just the consequences of taking one last look back was open to debate, but he wasted no further time, pouring on the speed after.




@Arty Fox Baronfjord is up next.

Pandamonium and music filled the air as the fight continued around him. BlackBerry saw the next arrow come into view and flash through the air, and right into Kosara and he gave her an empathetic wince when she cried out; he knew how much one of those hurt.

Water splashed upon him, as if he wasn’t wet enough already, and he shot a quick befuddle glance towards his right where it had come from. Then he felt the energy course through like ripples on water. While it didn’t do anything about the arrow sticking out of his stomach he felt more energetic than he had moments before. BlackBerry fleshed the guard a toothy grin safe in the knowledge that his luck was about to turn.

Horribly, the order to scatter went up, and the ruffians took no time in enacting it. BlackBerry gasped and nearly swore at this, frustrated that the ruffians might get away. He went to lunge out to grab the Guard in front of him, then grimaced and recoiled away half a step; watching in fascinated horror as the man's face snapped and twisted into a more rodent-like form still wearing that same scornful sneer

The ruffians looked to scatter, running in different directions; Cavendish taking off down one end of the street and the two guards sprinting down the other.

“Come back here!” Snarling. “Cowards!”

BlackBerry rocked backwards in his stance, the muscles in his legs coiled and tensed in preparation. Power swirled and then surged out again from his core, but this time shooting down into his legs. There was a moment of stillness about him. Then he rocked forwards and shattered the moment. He surged forwards at a furious pace, sprinting after the Guard (guard 2), the fiery limbs taking a fraction of a second longer to react and follow after.

His feet carried him deftly over the slippery cobbles with barely a sound as he closed in on the Guard. He saw the Guard pause to look back and then dive to the left out of sight past the building's corner. BlackBerry pursued after with determined fury while pushing away the pain in his stomach. Skidding around the corner the Guard came back into view just a bit further up the street. BlackBerry pushed further ahead, arm pumping, feet pounding against the cobbles, fiery limbs leaving a trail of light behind him. Finally he was close to the man, just a few more steps, just a little closer. He reached out his arm trying to grab hold of the back of the Guards armour, but he was still out of reach!

An idea came to BlackBerry. He just needed one more step, then he leapt up high and let inertia carry him through the air towards the fleeing Guard with his limbs spread wide hoping to land upon the hapless guard…

He hit! BlackBerry slammed into the Guard and tried to wrap his arm around him but no matter how hard he tried the Guard wiggled harder! The arrow shifted from its spot with a searing lurch, causing BlackBerry to focus on swallowing a strangled cry but it was just what the Guard needed to slip free of his grasp.

BlackBerry stumbled back into his previous stance and watched the Guard.

“Leaving so soon? And we were just starting to have fun.”

@Sigil Guard 3's turn!!

The screams of his fellow crossbowman on the other side of the room wound its way into his ears with sharp notes, commanding his attention away from the target of his next attack. This was immediately followed by alarm. Their vantage point gave them some protection from magics which may have originated from outside of the building, but this? One of them (probably the relatively shorter one with the shield) had conjured up something that could most definitely hurt them inside of their defenses. The fact that this dagger-shaped force had just shanked his associate and looked like it was deciding who it was going to stab next did NOT boost his confidence, either.

The idea to retreat to the back of the bailey and away from partial line of sight from the people below was a good one. This was reinforced by two things which happened from below: Firstly, their boss commanded them to scatter. Second, his half of his access to natural light just got cut off by the sudden appearance of a stone wall covering his window. It was time to move.

In the next second or two, just long enough to make the split decision to do so, Guard 3 scrambled northward for the back of the room and whatever lay beyond its confines as fast as he could scurry.

@Dragoknighte Marita is up next. Huzzah.

THE POSTING TIMER IS STILL PAUSED UNTIL MONDAY THE 28TH. Don't have to if you don't want to. Enjoy the holiday.

It appeared like Marita had helped manage to push the tide of battle enough in their favor that the Constable ordered a retreat for his men. That was certainly a relief since she was in no hurry to kill any of the townsfolk here, even if they were lycanthropes. That went doubly so for those who were supposed to uphold law and order, even if their actions indicated that they had no real intention of doing so. That sentiment however, didn't seem to extend to the rest of the party, who were jumping at the bit to get any final shots they could before the guards could run off. BB even ran out of sight around the corner, and there was a decent chance Kosara would do so as well.

However, even though it appeared that the battle was basically over that didn't distract her from the two primary facts of the situation. First, their mission was to protect Mallard. Second, they still couldn't be entirely sure the coast was clear yet. Until that happened she would remain in front of the entrance, keeping an eye out for any stray attacks or crossbow bolts that might come her way.

@Remipa Awesome

They began to scatter. Though they had won and chased off their foes in the likely best scenario for the end of the battle, they were beaten, bruised, and they would struggle to fend off another encounter like that without a chance to reorganize, collect themselves, and maybe rest. Cavendish had gotten away, and Kathryn wished she didn't allow that to happen. But that was in the past. She could try to give chase but it was clear he was faster then her, and there was no telling where he went after the turn he took. In fact, it seemed all the guards had done about the same, though she took note of Blackberry giving chase to one of the guards. Kathryn followed after him wanting to keep him backed up, but seeing how roughed up Kosara was, and knowing that they would be separated from anyone else who could fight was too far behind to help much. It seemed Blackberry was far faster then many of their own members. Kathryn gave chase after Blackberry to make sure he couldn't be isolated from the rest of the party, at this point she didn't want to risk being dragged too far away from the rest of the party and being cut off. Cavendish must realize at this point that even being prepared the party at full strength was going to be a slug fest ending in the winner winning by the skin of their teeth. A battle that he must know could go either way in his case. But if he could separate the party, his odds were far better. And once the party was out of the way there was no telling who'd be able to stand in his way. Even if doing so was getting gut punched with a hammer and being flattened into the cobblestone...

Kathryn gave chase, shield and hammer in hand, and rusted and chipped chainmail rattling and clinking with every step she took. Sprinting with what effort she could muster she was able to spot Blackbarry quick enough engaging the guard. What she was also doing, was keeping Kosara, Marita, and Victoria in sight. Though the battle was winding down it didn't take much to spark up once more again. Kathryn couldn't reasonably catch up to Blackberry and be of any use, and doing so would leave the rest of their party considerably less protected should any of the other guards choose to return. "Blackberry, he's not worth it! Get back here and let's regroup. Let the hurt dog run." Kathryn said the last line with a bit of spite in her tone. Though her pleas were met with Cavendish's laughter, they were winning and it was clear to the guards as much. As well why they ran now. They were beaten and they wouldn't gain anything from chasing them outside of a prisoner to take care of or a dead guard on their hands. If he wasn't able to disengage she could attempt to sprint over and help him get free, but she couldn't risk abandoning the rest of the party over a chance for a prisoner.

@Sigil Guard 4!

Let it never be said that getting stabbed in the gut with a magical floaty dagger wasn't a painful experience. However, it might be said that going through that mush pain under circumstances such as this can change a person. Yes, as his life's blood flowed from his abdomen, darkening his tunic and coloring the floor with vivid red splotches, he had what might be referred to as a moment of clarity. he was a legitimate town guard once, just two towns over from the place he grew up. It wasn't the most glamorous life, but it was honest and he had the respect of the locals. Discounts at bakeries. The occasional free ale. When he was younger and impressionable, this wasn't the career path he envisioned. Barely even Human anymore, beholden to an authority figure that likely didn't have his best interests in mind, and firing an issued crossbow at people defending a citizen that he was once sworn to protect from ...things like him... Perhaps it was time to stop all of this. He had been dirty for a while now. It was time to get clean.

Then his brain recollected from the wooziness that oft accompanied a sudden change in blood pressure when someone gets gutshanked. He had no idea why he had those mind-bogglingly stupid ideas in the first place and cursed the moment of goofiness that clouded his intentions. Clasping one hand over his wound, he heeded the order of the Constable and followed his fellow crossbowman's example, traveling away from the great stabbing implement composed of divine energy. Gathering up his weapon, the Guard retreated to the back of the room and toward whatever lay beyond, staying to the command to scatter. Continue the plan as ordered. Facepalm later for his journey into the asinine and NEVER TELL A SOUL ABOUT IT.




@rivaan Kosara had an End Of Round action coming. Now's the time, you are up.

“You show your true colors at last!” She screamed at the annoying cowardly rat that literally disengaged away from her, avoid her neatly prepared leg that was just itching to perform a kick when he tried to run away! The nerve and to hiss at her!” I’m breaking your leg today, buddy! Come back here! Oi!” She shouted at the rat, eyes gleaming menacingly! How dare the forces of evil and cowardly tactics run away from a fight just because the enemy could fight back! She made no mindful thoughts related to the fact that THAT was called good judgment and temporary retreat. With a side glance she also noted the other related rodent guard disengage and dash away as if running for his life!

Well Blueberry Pie ran after that guy and Kosara was perfectly content with letting the fancy monk do some fancy monking and ideally punch the living lights out of the rat’s head. She would love to bury them in the sand of the desert for a day to see how they like it with all their evil deeds, but maybe another time. More pressing matter, like a blasted rat that was running away! Not on her bloody watch!

“NO… YOU… DON’T!” Kosara’s posture shifted again as she leaned forward eyes deadlocked on her target as the rat was running away. Her stance was almost beastial in it’s on way as she bared her teeth and growled words of power, fingers shifting instantly through ritualistic gestures as a crackling static noise filled her mind." CELESTIAAAAAAAL.... BLAAAAAST!" A flash of gold gathered at the middle point between her horns, a sphere of golden energy crackling and shifting for a mere moment, before it was let out. The golden beam of energy streaked through the air, hitting the target with utmost precision and utmost force. She watched with huge happy childish grin as the rat crumbled onto the puddles on the cobblestones after that hit on the back.

“VICTORY!” She stated, striking a heroic pose with a huge smile on her face.

@Sigil and Kosara has been posted. Not sure if it's guard 2's turn now. But imma tagging you to make sure since I'm not sure if the battle's endign or anything and guard two got... eldrich blasted. So yeah

Having just stepped into a convenient and spontaneously appearing swirl of white mist in the middle of an open, rainy cobblestone street and disappearing instantly along with said mist (leaving no trace of himself behind), Cavendish was likely somewhere laughing his ass off.

The fight was turning in their favor - or at least it appeared to be. Victoria did not like the way that Cavendish poofed out of sight in a cloud of white vapor and paid it a piece of attention, attempting to figure out exactly what happened with him. That he had used magic was obvious, but whether it was from an item or personal ability to wield arcane forces was beyond her. She let the note she was playing on her violin carry for a moment before quieting, twirling slowly one last time before coming to a stop. The fact that the Constable had magic at his disposal altered her perception of the situation slightly and raised more questions than not.

Victoria gave a tiny mental impression in the metaphysical direction of her quadrupedal meat-servant, Morty, and drew it back a little closer to the building they were both next to. The only attacker that she could see was laying prone after having been blasted by Kosara but she didn't want to take chances, making sure that her Morty was actively playing the defensive for herself and covering the nearest blind corner, among its usual standing orders. She couldn't see where the Dragonborn had gotten off to except in pursuit of one of the retreating guards. Deep down, she hoped that whatever happened came up positive for the Monk but had no desire to follow and find out.

"We should get out of the open," she said to no one in particular. Her voice was not overly loud but clear enough to be understood over the white noise of rain hitting rooftop and cobblestone for those nearby. "This tale's antagonists know who we are now, and some of you are hurt." Victoria remained tensed, things expected or unexpected braced for as best she was able. Blood was still hot, breath was still heavy, and there was more that needed to be done. All this seriousness was not her forte, if she was honest with herself. But dying or being turned into a slavish rat-beast was far less so.

@rivaan Kosara has a regular turn in Initiative now.

With that pest properly punctured by phenomenal presentation of pure power, Kosara's head sharply turned to V who acted right away and spoke up, suggesting they were best to go under the sands and hide out for the time being, so to speak. The tiefling quickly hopped a few steps to the light so she formed a line with V and Morty. Thus making sure they had people looking in all directions, with her looking at the alleyway where some of the buggers ran away into and a good overlook at the house that housed the archers... wait no, crossbowmen! Crossbow...rats? 'Ratbowmen?' She blinked in her mind, trying to figure out the correct term, but fell short so she scattered teh thoughts away. In any case she was ready to dodge at the slightest of provocation pertaining to herself and instead focused her mind, allowing the Celestial energies that filled her body constantly because of her connection with her grandpa to be channeled into her wounds.

The effect was practically instantenous as the golden celestial energies settled into the number of wound she sustained from the rats, the wounds stitched themselves up and left her skin underneath in a rather nice shade of pristine pale skin that was showing through the bloody marks left in her currently soaked clothes. Maybe she was going to have to change... or use a looooooot of prestidigitation to dry up later.

"We can grab Paranoid smith man and head back to 'base'? Well also I think it's given to say that my hunch that the Municipal building was a place of interest and involved in dark schemes was proven solid! At least now I don't need to try to sneak inside to provie it." She suggested helpfully and smiled. Now she didn't remember if she had voiced that hunch to the others, but ehhh semantics. Before showing her now missing wounds to V." And I'm good, anybody else needing a bit of healing? I can help!"

@Sigil Alright Guard two's turn! He doesn't get insta sniped by eldrich blast cause Kosara's priorities shifted since he wasn't in view and she deprioritized him.

This Guard lay in the standing water of the cobblestone thoroughfare like a sack of inanimate meat, face partly submerged and limbs bent in angles that were at best uncomfortable, at worst arduous were it not for the apparent lack of awareness of his own situation. In short, it sucks to be him.



It turned out that the Guard had indeed slowed down just enough, took the turn around the building wide enough to get attention. More than that, someone to follow. Bright smiles indeed. He didn't quite count on the Dragonborn with the gigantic, glowing arms to be able to move quite that fast. Giving his scaly opponent credit, he was damn near able to down him, but his slippery, wily nature overcame the physical training of the Monk.

The Guard gave a wicked smile as he saw the tall woman in rusty armor round the corner. He was still in motion when he echoed Kathryn's words of "Yeah. Not worth it," with a laugh. The laugh continued for a little longer as he poured on the speed, initially in erratic movements to better disengage with the potential continuation of direct hostilities. His sprint took him south, down a side street in the general direction of residences.

@Arty Fox Baronfjord is good to go next. Again, if you're still going for combat, do your thing. Otherwise, post per regular while keeping in mind that we are still technically in initiative order.

Blackberry let the air pass gently from his lungs and out into the world. Behind him he heard Kathryn shout to him to leave things be.

He took a moment to weigh things up in his mind; the attack of his sword had done nothing, and he couldn’t be certain even his astral self had done much either. Needless to say he was feeling, BlackBerry ground his teeth, somewhat useless. Even trying to grab hold of the fleeing Guard hadn’t worked as he’d hoped as at least then they could have gotten some information out of the man.

He glared daggers at the retreating guard hoping maybe something would strike the man down, but sadly no such luck, and the man merrily ducked out of sight. That horrid twist of annoyance and shame returned in his stomach right beside the arrow. Pulling himself up and out of his stance he turned around to face Kathryn.

“Apologies.” He tried to smile, but it came as more a grimace. “This is most certain not my finest hour, If you would take my word for it.”

His eyes never quite met hers hidden beneath her helmet as he jogged briskly over to her, his arm reaching down to hold the arrow steady while his fiery limbs kept close for defence from any further surprise attacks. He kept his focus on the windows, rooftops, and shadows between buildings, his head moving slightly but eyes flying wildly over them all trying to spot where another ambush may come from. nowhere in particular struck him as hiding any more of those ruffians, in fact he was feeling fairly confident that they wasn’t even anyone else around.

“As much as I hate to admit it, you are right, Lady Kathryn. I do fear any further attacks I could make would do very little. It does appear, however, that there’s no one else about to give us any more trouble.” He then asked, already next to Kathryn. “How are you and others? Was anyone else harmed at all?”

The scene he looked on filled him with some relief and the let himself relax just a bit seeing that they weren’t being attacks anymore, a quick glance at the attic windows across the street showed them to be empty as well. While all gathered were battered and bruised, thankfully none had actually taken any sever injuries, as far as he could tell anyway.

Interestingly, one of the Guards had been brought down by one the others. If the Guard was still alive he could prove to be a good source of information.

@Dragoknighte With Guard 3 gone, it's up to you!

Marita didn't see any further movement from enemies, and Victoria stated it would be best to get inside, a statement she found herself completely in agreement with. However, she wasn't going to let her guard up yet. Still facing outward, she sheathed her dagger and picked up the mace she had set down next to the entrance before walking backwards into the shop, positioning herself just out of the door frame in so that she could still see out in the street, but any potential trigger happy crossbowmen or the like would have a much harder time shooting at her if one felt like getting in a parting shot. If the battle really was over, all she had to do now was wait for the others (or only Victoria) to enter the shop so she could close the door (and bar it this time). From here she couldn't see Kathryn or BB still, but as long as she didn't hear anything she just had to assume they would be alright.

@Remipa Awesome