There was something to be said of firepower and big strong muscles that can toss monsters about. Though THAT said, Berry’s lightning schenanigans left a lot to be desired in THIS specific situation. In a rather unfortunate twist of fate, the rat monster things didn’t seem too phased about the whole thing, though it didn’t seem to be the same situation for Cavendish if Kosara was to judge… Possibly. She was still struggling with a good view of the bastard, especially with the second rat monster being tossed into the barrels, scattering burning pitch about the place. That certainly lit the place up… punt totally intended and Kosara was not apologetic at all for even thinking it!

Her amusement lasted for about as long as the first rat monster abomination thing that was hitting at it’s boss, finally falling down. Cavendish’s orders and their rather evil and mean nature gave way to Kosara’s realization… ‘He left himself open!’ She thought in a jolt as now he was no longer hidden partially behind a big rat monster’s body. Granted the bad visibility still gave him some degree of separation, but Kosara had enough to go ahead and fire at him directly!” Ohh yeah!?” She shouted at to him about the order he had given. Granted burnt Kathryn would require healing, but the tiefling wasn’t that kind of evil hearted to will injury to somebody just so she could feel their muscles. Mind you, she’d make use of such case if it presented it, but she wouldn’t orchestrate it willingly!” Finish this, you...” Kosara momentary stalled, trying to figure out what her next grand verbal attack would be, it lasted but a moment before she continued with the first thing that came to mind.” worse than a Coffin Goblin Evil Bastard Wanabe!”

“CELESTIAL BLAST!” She roared, golden energy arching and gathering at her horns before firing the golden beam of crackling energy at Cavendish. At first the energy seemed to crackle off the target, but remembering V’s praise that made her feel oddly encouraged.”AAAAaaaaaaaaA...AH!” She screamed, head snapping to the side to track right onto Cavendish, since it was beam originating from her horns, the thing moved slightly to the side just enough for the golden energy to snap into him after all." Not so fun to be the one receiving injuries, is it!?"

@Sigil There we go!

Fog yet loomed thick and heavy over the makeshift arena which held the party and the deathly antagonists. To all perception it had gotten even thicker and heavier in the moments since their arrival, though this was as likely due to the spread of broader light and contrasting shadow giving an isolating effect in the night's gloom. And those fires had indeed gotten broader. Even aside from the most recent spillage, the existing dense, syrupy pitch had been spreading, bringing its fire to cover more area.

The tree closest to the blaze near the leftmost cage abruptly caught fire, its remaining autumn leaves going up like kindling. The smoke of it, and the pitch on the ground kept moving more or less upward, even if that which remained below was beginning to become cumbersome for those who desired to continue pulling untainted air into their lungs. Yet the smoke's presence had not yet interfered with ones visibility enough to make a difference in the ongoing fight - for either side.

With the downing of one of these Rat Abominations, Cavendish could be seen with a less obstructive view than ever, and from more angles. This too was a double-edged sword, as he had already set sights on targets and had proven his proficiency in ranged attack magic. What was more, even though the creature was down and its corpse burning up in the sticky, burning hell around him, the Wererat Constable was yet surrounded by swarms and swarms of what appeared to be common rats - many living and milling around, but just as many deceased and still, their bodies in various states of disrepair.

In the cage to the right, Lea had been able to use the shortsword to pry and hack away one of the damaged wooden slats. The cook from Neil & Bob's, the Halfling lady, Daisy, was pushed through the aperture (as she was the only one who could fit at this time) with the sword, that she might hack at their enclosure from the outside with a less restricted swinging arc.

In a similar showing of community members helping one another, the fisherman had moved his own chunk of damaged wood far enough to one side by levering his stout fishing rod, and with Cecily's assistance they were able to get the young woman employed by the Honey Barn to slip through. She immediately grabbed hold of the weakened bar and tried her best to yank back on it, to Madame L'Rose's immediate objection. "No! You run! You keep running!" she ordered, voice cracking with emotion. She didn't wait to see if the burlesque dancer heeded her words, instead moving to help another captive stand. This one was an older fellow who, were this a fair and just world, should have been at the talent show in the Farmers' Market, displaying his uncanny ability to cry upon command. It was unmistakably Beppo.

"Mornin'!" the fisherman insisted to the young lady who had just slipped through, jerking his head in a direction away from the fighting. He had stopped trying to lever the wood away, instead holding the rod like a quarterstaff and planting his feet about shoulder-width apart inside of his cage. He steadied his breathing and rolled his shoulders, assumed a low, combative stance, and brought surprising force to bear against their enclosure with a lateral thrust of his favored tool with a mighty, "Huah Hah!"



@Arty Fox Baronfjørd - You have been granted your one day extension. You are first up, at your leisure, sir.

BlackBerry shook himself to rid the embarrassment a moment ago and hoped that Cavendish hadn't enjoyed the same rejuvenation from his attack as the Beasts had but his view of the man was blocked by the remaining beast towering in front. Instead his lips now curled with disgust and annoyance.

“Well, I shan’t try that again.”

While BlackBerry couldn't see Cavendish he could hear him; the man barking orders and curses above the crackling din of fire. Promptly, Kosara politely pointed out Cavedish’s location with a searing beam of light and a few curses of her own. BlackBerry grimaced with the knowledge that he wasn't suited for long range battles and even trying to go past the remaining Beast surrounded by flame to reach Cavendish was a daft idea by its own merit.

His heart then skipped a beat watching the now fiery beast in front of him swing for Victoria with savage claws only for it to blessedly miss, the bard showing exemplary dexterity dodging the attack. It would've been rather entertaining if not for the circumstances. He eyed the beast and set his stance back into a low lunge drawing his astral arms backwards in preparation for his next assault, with the east focussing on Victoria now would be the best time to get a few more hits in.

Then light bloomed like a fire to his left and he saw to his dismay the tree above the leftmost cage now engulfed in fire. All it would take was a few embers falling from the tree to catch and the hostages would all be lost. The choice was easy to make despite how bad it might make him look in the others eyes, but he was in no shape to take another hit from the beasts at that moment.

“The fire.” He was already moving towards the cage as he spun on his heel, briefly stepping backwards, to address Kathryn and Victoria. “Keep hitting the Beast. I will aid the hostages.”

Wasting no time he came alongside the woman pulling against the loose beam of the cage, and wrapped his physical hand around the beam also, his ethereal limbs copying the motion but sliding through the beam rather than grabbing onto it. He held back a wince at the bolts of pain suddenly stabbing into his elbow.

“Get ready to pull on my mark.” BlackBerry dug his heels into the ground, twisting so the beam ran over his left hip. “Pull!”

BlackBerry pulled hard, leaning his weight back away from the cage trying to tug the beam away from its base, but the splinters held on with a fierce grip without even so much as budging a centimetre. His elbow then gave a sickening ‘pop’ and a small wail of pain came from somewhere in his throat.



@Sigil Thank you for the extension, off you go!

Another segment of time passed without the overt presence of the wererat guard. No unseen crossbow firing a bolt from the darkness, nor the flash of a blade in the night. Long gone or waiting for something specific, none but he might say. So as per the usual of this fight so far, Guard 1 is out of sight and not participating in the festivities.

@Dragoknighte Marita is up. Have fun.

There are not words that can accurately describe the mix of emotions Marita felt when she saw the implementation of their makeshift plan which required a near miraculous display of willpower and strength from herself end up helping their enemies more than anything. Perhaps fortunately for the team's Dragonborn, they did not have the time to properly discuss what had just happened there. All she did was shoot him the most pointed, judgmental glare she had given any party member since taking this job. In his haste to go help the trapped civilians he probably missed the Disapproval of God, and would be better off for it.

However, the proceeding turn of events made the decision-making for the cleric much easier. Cavendish kindly did their work for them by disposing of the other abomination, so now the rest of them could focus on taking down the one in front of their faces. It was likely not long for this world what with being one fire, but there was nothing wrong with hastening that process. Marita swung with her mace and found it met with the same unsatisfying, spongey feeling. At this time she decided that it was worth it to exert her voice a bit more. She had been withholding her spellcasting to avoid drawing fire from potential crossbows, or in case they desperately needed to heal someone. However, the ability to dish out more damage quickly outweighed the potential drawbacks in her estimation. The next bit of decision-making was if she should direct her wrath at Cavendish and his rodents. She quickly determined it would be better to put her total focus on the massive, burning pile of flesh that could horrifically injure anyone near it if it got the chance.

"STRIKE."

She thrust her mace out towards the abomination, from the tip sprang forth the spectral dagger for the second time that day. She sought to skewer it, but missed and it only clipped the thing's midsection on its path to the other side. Lastly, the cleric took a sidestep, bodyblocking the creature from the shortest path to Kathryn, its current target as set out by Cavendish. She didn't particularly relish putting herself in the line of fire like this, but anything to impede the Constable's desires.

@Sigil V's up

"Next time," she had sworn to herself. And she meant it. Though, by the way things had turned out over the last few seconds, Victoria wondered briefly if continuing with this course of action was the smartest move. Once again, she had somehow found herself along the front line, or the nearest approximation of this staged yet chaotic battleground. This was not the place where she was at her strongest. But it was where she was located, and she might as well attempt to make a difference, no matter how minor when compared to the more direct combat ability of her companions.

Moreover, she couldn't help but notice their Cleric tanking for, well, their tank. If this was to prevent a direct attack before Kathryn could muster up a counter to the incoming grapple, then it was within both the Bard's and Marita's best interests to assist, until stronger arms arrived in melee. Still, the idea that she might be able to reach out with her motes of animating necrotic force to raise her porcine helper ran through her reckoning, even if it was futile. The link was severed and she knew it keenly. But that didn't mean there weren't other small, simple, and most importantly dead creatures which she could bring into her service. Just not right at this moment.

With as grim a smile as she could muster, Victoria moved her violin behind her and retook a side-facing fencer's stance. The silver enhanced blade of her slender sword struck out once more as she brought her body low into a lunge; as she rose she flicked the weapon outward from the successful, telling blow, like she was signing a great check mark upon a grisly contract. The blow would have proven fatal to a stout commoner or even a trained soldier, but the creature's infuriating resistance and sheer bulk of mass blunted the effectiveness of the attack. It was still better than her last attempt, though no less annoying.

Victoria's mellifluous voice sounded over the fire and row of battle, a sweet yet haunting vocalization of the first few bars of a recognizable funerary march. The beat thrummed heavily in the air, pulsing like the rhythm of a living heart. Yet it bore upon it no life-giving essence, but a curse upon the recently damaged. Where Victoria's sword marred flesh, corruption festered and bubbled to the beat of this march, spreading along the wound like necrotic ants tunneling from underneath its stolen skin.

The necrosis hurt the beast far more than her sword was able, to Victoria's satisfaction, and the Rat Abomination began to slow its movements. It even started to stoop lower, as if suddenly carrying a great weight.

@Remipa Awesome Kathryn is up. Good luck.

The moment the beast lashed out at Victoria Kathryn was reminded of the battle with the goblins. This thing however, would hit considerably harder. She saw Marita already taking place to block the path as Cavendish had ordered the beast to take revenge against the princess. Kathryn once again, found herself sidelined while several other party members found themselves in the line of fire. This would not do, this would not do at all. Though she appreciated the thought from Marita, Kathryn needed to make sure that they didn't take too much more of a beating. And she hoped that the beast would have a considerably harder time dishing out punishment to her than the others. Kathryn was already in action by the time the beast had finished its second strike against Victoria, and was determined to give the beast as much of a punishment as she could muster.

Kosara being the amazing tiefling she was made sure to remind Cavendish that this was not a fight he would be able to sit out until he was ready. Making sure to continuously pound him with magical blasts. She knew there were other things going on in the battle, such as Cavendish killing his own beast, and Blackberry backing off a bit to give a helping hand to those trapped within the cage still. Though she couldn't afford to pass more than a glance to him, she was glad to see him getting a moment to not be beaten into a pulp. She wondered how he had taking such a beating, and wondered if monks were able to take punishment far better than she thought? But again, these were background thoughts as Kathryn slid into place in front of Victoria.

Kathryn's hammer had been placed in front of Victoria as Kathryn's shield took the lead, the hammer gently nudging Victoria into safety behind the half giant fighter as if a concerned parent was directing their child away from the stranger who may have had ill intention. As the shield was brought close to the beast Kathryn's stance in a smooth transition that would take less than a second in real time would switch from a run into a stance that would plant her boots firmly into the stonework as the once gentle hammer that had guided Victoria to safety behind her had begun to speed up in the other direction, giving a wide arc off to Kathryn's side as Marita finished dishing out her share of punishment. And with a fleshy crunch sound Kathryn's hammer made contact with the beast's head causing a violent jerk, and causing the beast to finally stumble. One step, two steps, and a third to correct itself. Then as it fell to its knees, otherwise just as motionless as it had been after every other blow it had taken. The party would have been able to have a great look at the back of the beast's head now that it's orientation had changed, and Cavendish would be able to should he have chosen so be able to look once final time into the beast's eyes as it's massive form fell over between the party, and this town's villain.

Kathryn was speechless. The last of the beasts were dead, and the goons were nowhere to be see. Kathryn felt like forever had passed since she stopped looking at the now dead monster, and her head had quickly turned. The visor of the dented, scratched, and blood stained helm locking with Cavendish in a flash of a moment. In reality, between the killing blow, the beast falling, and Kathryn locking eyes with the former constable, barely a few seconds have passed. Kathryn had no offer of surrender this time. She had given the man three chances now. And the third, he had elected to target the locals. He made his views clear on how much he valued his life, and if he wanted to live to see a trial, that would have to be his choice. Kathryn had given him plenty of chances to back down before things escalated. And she hoped the rest of the party felt the same way. Kathryn returned to her fighting stance, shield up, hammer ready to swing.

@Sigil Ready for our next challenger!! Unless Cavendish is out of cards.

A look inside Cavendish's thoughts might glean the following:

Of course the Dragonborn would scuttle off to assist the bait. It's what these kinds of people did. Predictable, really, even if it did cheat him out of a little fun. Looking at how horribly he was mangled, it wouldn't have taken much to finish him off. Cavendish wondered why might happen if a Dragonborn was made a wererat. Would he grow hair? Would their decidedly non-mammalian teeth develop lengthened incisors? Were fuzzy ears out of the question? Suddenly, the Constable wished to see if this would happen. Maybe he would save that one for last and try to answer some of his questions when he was in a better position to so so. So it was probably for the best that he lost line of sight with the draconic outsider. So many possibilities. But first, business had to be resolved.

Truly, the mind of an enlightened and well-adjusted individual.

The fire held within the confines of its liquidy boundaries, be they still spreading slowly but it wasn't enough to impair his ability to target his enemies any more than they could target him. And one seemed to be doing just that. The one with the mouth on her. "Celestial Blast?" he scoffed, still recovering from the hit. The same black, crackling energy that felled the Abomination before him flared in his eyes, streaking out in a pattern not completely unlike the Bard's demonstration of necrotic energy. Simultaneously, the same could be seen gathering in his free hand like a small, black, angry sun. Cavendish stared pointedly in the direction of Kathryn and Marita, an expression that could be best described as vindictive (as best could be fathomed on his rodent-esque features) growing on his face. When he let his twin Eldritch Blasts fly, it targeted neither the Cleric nor the Fighter. Both bolts of arcane energy flew solely at Kosara. "Why don't you ladies come closer?" he called over the crackle of the pitch-flames, taunting as if he hadn't a care in the world.


- Kosara has taken 18 points of Force damage.

- Several rats are dead and/or on fire, and the area to the north that is not aflame is still considered Difficult Terrain, with appropriate movement penalties.



Guard 2 continues to be out of sight, and possibly out of mind. Either way you slice it, he's doing a great job of not really being present in any discernible manner. I can see how it might get irritating. But here we all are. Except for Guard 2, of course. _{(Or is he?)}



@rivaan Kosara is up next. Please do what you can with what you have, and hang in there. Also, again do the tagging of me so that I can handle maps and such for the next round. Thanks.

Actions were still happening in a rush. People were moving about, attacks were had, help was being helped, she saw Berry helping the people in the cages, Kathryn and V changing places, Marita summoning magical weapons to do magical weaponry things with. Presumably stabbing Cavendish or other abominations. All in all, things were going rather well! Kosara’s little joyful voice that lurked in her mind told her that they were being heroic and she should definitely write about all this in her letters home. Same little voice that also refused to acknowledge that getting in the line of danger was NOT what her family told her to do.

Now on the not so great turn of events, it appears that all that taunting of Cavendish and calling him silly names finally reached a boiling point for the rat wanabe villain Constable because in his counter taunts while not aimed at her, seemed to have used her as the target. She barely had time to react when she saw the streaking black energies not too different from her own Celestial attacks. One moment energies were in his hand the next she saw TWIN bolts of streaking blackness snap over at her…

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Kosara roared in absolute agony as the twin attacks tore through her flesh and body, tearing through her flesh, blasting open wide wounds that were almost see through to the other side of her body, blood blasting outward and dripping as the bolts faded. She nearly fell right then and there, everything was hot… cold… dark… and then it was RED. Something inside her snapped and she saw red as her white eyes flashed red for a moment her hand snapped at Cavendish, lithe white finger aimed at him, face turned into an uncharacteristic vicious snarl. Her mouth opened to speak and instead of her usual slight accent and innocently happy voice, came out a grotesque gurgle and hisses of sounds in Abyssal that boiled down to ‘ BURN’. Forcing a mass of crimson flames to erupt at Cavendish.

The red in her eyes faded just as it appeared, Kosara fighting for breaths, struggling as she did, hand pressed into one of the terrible wounds, feeling herself at the Death’s Door. She focused, just as her grandpa taught her. Golden energies flashed at her wounds as they began shrinking as if melting away, healing at visible rapid pace until everything was gone, leaving just her damaged clothing and blood that was on it. A grievous wound gone just like that in an instant. Still shaken and affected by the brush with death and the overwhelming amount of phantom pain still lingering, she didn’t even quip just stumbled away as quick as she could over to V’s side.

@Sigil posted

The dome of atmospheric condensation remained, seemingly closing off the ongoing fray from the rest of the world around. The screams from townsfolk, once perforating the stillness of the night, had come to an undramatic cease, only to be replaced by the wails of the captured doing whatever the could to free themselves before the monsters or the fire could claim them.

Evergreen and deciduous trees of around the town's central carfax stood in opposition to one another's coloration in the gloom of the evening, though made a little more similar when bathed in the light of aromatic pitch-fire (which had fully claimed one of their number in glorious conflagration at this point). If there was an upside to smoke and wall of unyielding blaze, it was that the field of conflict was now significantly warmer than the night would have otherwise allowed for the season.

Cavendish held his ground, his rat-ish features positively brimming with glee and/or anticipation as he surveyed the symphony of chaos, fire, and blood. His eyes lifted to the sky for a brief moment and arms outstretched as if to present a great feast to an honored guest in a high place. Eyes narrowed and smile faded a bit at Kosara drew upon her abilities to close the holes he bored into her flesh with his magic, but this was only a minor setback in the grand scheme. Live rats still milled about in his general vicinity, crawling over the dead ones. Living and dead, their presence made the ground hazardous.

The rightmost cage had one board missing - a good start but not enough to get anyone else out safely. The Halfling tavern cook, Daisy, hacked at the enclosure with the recovered short sword as best as she was able, but her blows did not carry much strength and were swung wildly. Nevertheless, she tried.

The other cage saw a little more progress. Cecily had the older man, Beppo, to his feet. He couldn't fit through the hole already made in their cage, but he might with just a little more effort. The lady was having difficulty keeping her elder upright, but she wasn't going to stop trying, from the look of things. The fisherman gave Baronfjord a knowing look as he came to help the young woman who had squeezed out with the wooden bar, stating with flat determination, "Nice day for fishin'." He focused his attention back on the bar next to where the Dragonborn and burlesque performer were making their attempts, resumed his low stance, and drove his fishing rod forward like a quarterstaff. The pole crashed forward into the wood, finally splintering it outward with an audible cracking sound. "Huah Hah!"



@Arty Fox Baronfjørd - Do what you do.

BlackBerry saw the flash, shards of night suddenly blooming around the corner of the cage where he stood, and the agonising shriek that came with it. His heart yet again jumped into his throat. Through the bars to the other side of the cage, past the hostages, he thought he could just about make out someone on the floor. From the obscured figure he heard a gurgle, hisses and snarls but within those horrid sounds he heard the word. A moment of worry and fear washed over him, stopping him in his tracks and making him almost forget his arm. From around the corner then came the figure, Kosara(!), thankfully unharmed though clearly shaken.

Now wasn’t the time to worry about such things. He took a deep breath and pushed the concerns away for later.

From the other glimpses BlackBerry could snatch towards the others, the battle seemed to be slowly turning in their favour even after his botched attempt to lend a hand moments before. One beast down so presumably one more to go. But he had to focus on his now currently botched attempt to help the hostages. He prised his fingers away from the wooden beam and a hiss of pain came from him from the sensation of tendons scraping over the now misaligned elbow joint.

"Nice day for fishin'." The man with the fishing rod said.

BlackBerry, at a complete loss as to how to respond to the statement, simply blinked. The confusion was then compounded by the man managing the splinter the wood of the neighbouring beam with a strike of his fishing rod. The man was either very strong, or had a very good fishing rod, but either way he had the right idea.

“Oh what a lovely day indeed for fishing!” He stepped back from the beam and shot a quick grin to the woman beside him. “Brace yourself.”

BlackBerry curled his arm back towards his stomach to shield it. Then with a downward twist with his right shoulder, the astral limb came crashing down upon the wooden beam near to the base, but with only a few unsatisfying cracks in the wood to show for it. He sneered down at the beam, as if it were mocking him. He ground a snarl between his teeth and with another downward twist with his opposite shoulder, sent his other astral limb crashing down upon the beam. This time the wood gave way almost completely with a satisfying crunch and shattering along the cracks. Only nearly though, a sharp sliver of wood held the beam to the base of the cage was definitely mocking him now.



@sigil Guard 1 to do what guards guarding do

Deep within the shadows lay the prone, completely hidden form of the Guard stretched out his twitching, sensitive, rodent nose in the direction of his prey. His issued crossbow, a well worn but also well cared for device, bore a taut line and all the potential energy necessary to propel its ammunition through the soon-to-be corpse of its intended target.

Wait, no... <ahem> Behind the flaming barrel of pitch, the Wererat Guard bid his time, waiting for enough backs to be turned and/or the appropriate signal to occur for him to make his move. Until then, in stark contrast to the usual skulking about in the shadow to conceal one's self, the brightness and environment gave him cover until their devastating attack could be launched.

Check that: Mr. Wererat Guard found himself skittering through the trees off to the side of the fighting, a mighty internal shout of "Fuck this noise," clattering against the inside of his skull so loudly that he thought it might slip out into the audible world. Lots of things just died that were supposed to have the upper hand and he wasn't going to be next. That, and his boss had gone from confident despot straight to complete nutjob in the time it might have taken him to make a sandwich. It was time to think of himself and duck out of this situation.

No, I'm sorry - He was the established backup, and he was going to be the best Plan B he could be. This involved setting up behind impromptu murder holes in the places that their opposition would likely move next. There would be tripwires. There would be flaming oil. Spike traps. He would rain plague-infested rats upon them when they moved through an archway or large enough door. His crossbow would puncture ankles and slow them down in arduous personal agony while ...things... began to crawl all over them, nipping away tenderer parts of skin. Yes, they would see him again.

Watch out, he's right behind you! Salivating with anticipation as he sees his opportunity to clamp teeth down and make you like him. In fact, its what they should have done to begin with. It would have made for an interesting, if not particularly sophisticated, preemptive solution.

The fact is, no one in the party knows where he is, nor what he's planning. Good luck.

@Dragoknighte Marita is free to do what she needs to do.

Marita was not in the mood for trading quips with Cavendish, so when he beckoned the ladies to come closer, she chose to wordlessly have the spiritual weapon do so it her stead. It flew through the fire and over the rats both living and dead to strike directly at the wererat's jugular. Unfortunately the blade went wide, missing entirely and ending up at his backside.

It was a frustrating turn of events, but the cleric was still free to do as she chose. There was no way that she was going to take her chances trying to directly assault the constable, nor was she too keen to see what foul magics he'd been given up close, so she assessed the battlefield to see if there was anything she could do before focusing on taking down the man of the hour. She noted that the cage closest to hurt looked just about ready to topple, and being able to get the townsfolk out of immediate danger would at least give Cavendish one less manner to harass them. Marita ran over to the cage and took a great swing...

Only for the cruelty of chance to make it so that her mace strike lined up just so that the head of the mace slipped in between the bars and the handle of the weapon made contact with the bars, sending an unpleasant vibration up through her arm but no actual damage done to the cage itself.

@Sigil Maybe V can do something

Victoria wasn't aware that Kathryn wanted to dance. Even in the middle of mortal combat, it was rarely a bad idea to shuffle and tap in rhythmic step, letting one's body sway to the cadence of swords and fire; the Bard felt that it brought her closer to the application of practical spellcraft, from her profession's point of view. But Kathryn was no Bard, and she was certainly no Wizard. There was another reason for the sudden lift, and knowing what little she did of the tall and muscle-bound Knight, it probably had some direct, martial application. This didn't stop her from breaking into a cheshire grin about midway through the lift and hit the ground with a twirl, her boots clapping softly upon fitted stone and arms outstretched (just as soon as her sword cleared killing range from Kathryn, of course).

The lift gave her momentary elevation enough to notice something on the other side of the fire. A split second gave her a view of several small bodies, smashed and burned, with their living rodent brethren still crawling about their numbers. There was promise here. Victoria didn't quite come to a stop; rather she momentarily slowed her dance just enough locate a decent vantage point, and went for it. The Bard went low, moving to place herself in a position to put the rightmost fire barrel between herself and Cavendish, providing a more than fair amount of direct cover while still allowing some sight into the area beyond. From a crouch, Victoria lay her sword to the side and replaced it with her violin bow. A few dulcet notes parted the crackle of fire, smashing sounds, and labored breath of battle, building upon itself as Victoria sprinkled a mote of Necromancy into the tapestry pattern of the Weave, reaching out in front of her, between the Constable and herself.

Something answered her call.

Tiny creatures, recently discorporated. Smashed, tread upon, flesh burned mostly away. Bones clicked back together like horrid kernels of popping sorghum in a hot pan. Charred meat twitched and pulled upon itself, gathering former individuals together to act in concert with one another. Unlike the living rats which milled about aimlessly in their predetermined area, the dead ones surged forward with directed purpose. They were mindless, loyal, and (best of all) completely disposable. Victoria knew that they could not cause Cavendish any actual harm - it was fully beyond their ability being neither silver nor enchanted as a weapon - but they could attempt to distract the monstrous Constable.

When the first of the dead rats began to crawl up his legs, Cavendish indeed looked distracted.

@Remipa Awesome Kathryn's turn.

"KOSARA!" Kathryn would call out seeing her friend getting blasted. The blow looked bad, very bad. One that would outright kill many. The quick glance that Kathryn got, the blow looked near lethal on its own. To Kathryn's relieved surprise, Kosara began healing up rather fast. Magic? Must have been. How else would one recover from such grievous woulds so rapidly?! She took note to see what she could learn of magic. But even as Kosara healed, Kathryn saw a rage within the small tiefling that spooked her as well. She hoped Cavendish knew just how much trouble he was in. Though thinking of it, maybe better he didn't. Kathryn really didn't want to give chase if she didn't have too. Once her thoughts cleared of the danger present, Kathryn took a split second to look about. Marita and Blackberry were working on dismantling one cage with those trapped inside. She pondered if she should help there, but the two of them likely had that in hand. Looking behind her she noticed the second cage. They had made some progress with the short sword they had been given, but they still had a ways to go. Kathryn hoped that getting the hostages out would maybe make it harder for Cavendish to cause as much damage as he could. If Cavendish wanted to land blows, he would need to do so in self defense.

Kathryn made a beeline for the right most cage. Through her battered and beaten helm Kathryn's voice was muffled by steel as she spoke. "Nice ta see ya again Daisy. Now, stand back." She gave a glance to everyone else in the cage as well. "The rest of you lot as well! Step back!" Kathryn tried to put her step behind her blow as she whacked the hammer into the bars. There was an audible crack, and she she could see the bar visibly splinter as she withdrew the blunt weapon. "Fuck." Kathryn mumbled. Albeit, sharply. It was rare anything not made of metal didn't just bend or break to her will, and when she really needed it to for once it failed to do so. She turned to keep an eye on Cavendish, only to see him fighting his own rats?! Then upon a closer look, saw that they weren't his own. They were the ones that had been squashed, burned, and otherwise had faced rather gruesome deaths. Her first thought was Victoria, and taking a glance back to her, she saw that was very much true.

It took Kathryn a moment to completely process that the necromancer she had met who had a walking undead pig with her could reanimate the dead. In that moment, she felt like a fool for not putting that together sooner. "Oi! Victoria, can ya please clear a path to the Bastard? Or just keep him pinned?" Kathryn said in her most polite tone. As least as polite as one could muster in the heat of the moment while their head was encased in steel. She also had no idea what the extent of the abilities their lovely bard had. Seeing how Cavendish was reacting though? She hoped that the former constable wouldn't be able to do to much more damage before Kathryn got a go at him.

@Sigil OKAY! Got some Kathryn stuff's in, time for our lovely Constable to return the favor!

Cavendish inwardly mused that this had to be the most obnoxious fight that he had ever been in, bar none. He was a former soldier, a Constable, and servant to eldritch powers. Yet for all of his history, this fight won the prize.

There was fire all around him. Fire and rats, screams, blood, and whatever was left of the hulking monstrosities that had just lost their ability to move about and smash things for him. And the screams - lest he forget about the whimpers and cries for help from the prisoners. This was all set up for a lovely end to an otherwise successful venture, even with these interlopers (and the Constable was pretty sure that he had done an excellent job throwing this little Going Away party). These things were expected. So they were obviously not what made this the most obnoxious fight that he had ever been in.

It was mostly that, after the magic and the fire, attacks upon his person and neutralization of allies on the battlefield, these people seemed to be intentionally ignoring him in favor of the rabble in the cages. This was curious. He demanded more respect as an adversary than this. "No, no, no. That's not how this works. No one gets their prize until after the game is over. Perhaps you forgot - I'm still playing."

Cavendish's face screwed into a wicked smile as he gathered magics into his free hand; crackling black energy which mirrored in his rattish eyes; the same pulsing, necrotic energy demonstrated when he let loose twin bolts of damaging energy just earlier. This time, his attention was diverted at the last moment with the feeling of weight pulling down at his trousers, and even odder, nips from tiny teeth. Annoying, but clearly not damaging. Still, prudence dictated that he spare a glance down. "What out of the Abyss is?" he started, realizing that undead rats were crawling up his clothing, gnawing irregularly at the flesh underneath. He could not tell from where this new development originated, even if the music might have been a clue, and wished to address that as soon as possible. But the spell was already in the middle of being cast, and so he had to complete it against his selected targets or risk it fizzling, at the best of possibilities. His vicious looking shortsword slapped at the miniature undead minions as they neared his tenderer bits, while he reached out to strike from afar with magic.

Twin blasts of black, crackling energy flew from his hand, aimed for the ones who still seemed to be interested in his presence, the Cleric and the Warlock. Perhaps their screams of agony would jolt the others out of their stupor. Unfortunately, the dead rats had done their job well enough that the one aimed at Kosara flew over everyone's head at a forty-five degree angle to the cobblestone ground beneath his feet, and the other only grazed Marita, imparting a light shove that her armor absorbed without much difficulty.

Cavendish attempted to reassert control over the rats rapidly approaching his nethers, but apparently his influence ceased when their life functions did. Instead, in his frustration and desire to hurt something, anything, he compromised his own plan slightly. The swarm of rats nearest to Kathryn broke away from the larger group and massed toward the tall Knight, occupying the same space as herself and massing up her armored figure as the dead ones had done to him, chewing and gnawing wherever the armor did not cover. "Eat well, my pets!" hissed Cavendish, satisfied that blood was spilled from one source, at least.

- Kathryn has taken 6 points of Piercing damage.

- Areas to the north that are aflame or containing rats are still considered Difficult Terrain, with appropriate movement penalties. The flames have additional, quite painful penalties for being walked through.








@rivaan Kosara is up next. Give me a tag when you're done.

All things considered, tonight it turned to be a night of new experiences and excitement. Only issue seemed to be that all the experiences and excitement weren’t of the good sort really. Of course it was all very grand and adventurous and heroic in the grand scheme of things. Nights like this one and what was happening, was what grand stories of adventure, fables and legends were made out of, but it really wasn’t as nice as Kosara expected. Of course, she concluded that feeling of ‘wrongness’ was probably the after effects of NEARLY DYING, to 2 huge blasted holes in her chest that luckily had closed now, but the mortal injuries had left the energetic and bubbly tiefling a bit affected. Whatever had snapped inside her mind at the prospect of nearly dying, the maniacal glee and abyssal energies inherent to tieflings that caused her retaliatory conflagration at Cavendish, had left Kosara quite shocked, quiet and almost out of it as people acted around and the combat proceeded as normal, to her eyes everything briefly moving in a haze, almost as if her perception had become twisted, the noises were distant and partially obscured as if her ears were filled with water.

Deep breaths, one, two, three, repeat. She was breathing heavily as the world around continued, there were noises of things being hit, spells flying, orders being called out and the very hatable voice of a certain faux constable that caused the haze and the dullness around her to finally snap and break off.” AH!” She gasped loudly, all the hazy images and muted sounds returning to normal in an instant, mind kicking back into full speed action, She turned on her heel, trying to assess the situation and in typical Kosara fashion a snap decision was made, a plan was forged and she dashed fearlessly into activity. In trained dexterous and dance-esque movements she wove her way around V and Kathryin, actually finding herself into the treeline on the other side of the fire pits, closer to Constable douche than ideal, but big tree did big block… probably.

She turned around and with a spin, looked at the spot Kathryn had attacked and damaged on the cage, so she aimed for it too with nary a word( very unusual for her). The scimitar cut into the damaged wood, chopping off a bit of the thing, but her angle must have been wrong or bad because it didn’t quite chop through it entirely, leaving the cage bit holding on for dear existence by a sliver of it’s material. A very heroic and dedicated cage this was. In any case with her attack done, Kosara dove deeper around the cage and into the treeline, to hinder line of sight with the pesky constable and gain protection from the glorious tree trunks and the foliage.

@Sigil

The bubbles, cracks, and hisses of the pitch fires could be heard around the sharper sounds of weapon strikes and the sizzling volleys of magic. Other sounds seemed lessened by the importance of what was transpiring in this place which was so full of life just a couple of days prior, even if it carried an undercurrent of uncertainty.

The trees on either side of the fires stood in their own dark silence, with the exception of the one toward the left which was completely ablaze at this time. Going just a few feet into the vegetation made travel more difficult in comparison to the bright, open lighting of the town center proper, plus it gave the double-edged sword of effectively causing dim lighting conditions for anyone who stepped more than five feet into them. Luckily for all, the raging fires kept the area relatively warm still.

Cavendish was still swarmed with undead rats, as much as Kathryn was swarmed with live ones. This little detail didn't stop him from gritting his rodent-y teeth and trying to push through the grim distraction, intent to rationing out pain to those he deemed worthy of it. Maybe he'd try to drill eldritch holes in the ones who were fool enough to stay in his line of sight. Or maybe go after the most immediate threat. There was still a spiritual weapon nearby that made a move at him just a few seconds ago. Drop the Cleric, drop the spell. Oh, what lovely screams he would make them give in exchange.

The rightmost cage still only had one board missing, but not for the lack of trying on behalf of Daisy's efforts. The Halfling redoubled her efforts as best she could, emboldened by Kathryn moving to assist her to get her friends and neighbors out. Though it was difficult to see from the larger woman's angle, Daisy's face fell as she realized that Kat decided to go an undamaged portion of the cage, near clearly on the opposite side. Her borrowed sword clanged softly on the stones below as her already tired arm dropped when Kosara moved to the same place as her friend. Maybe they would do a better job. She hoped they would. But as they didn't seem to be doing any better than her, Daisy raised the sword once again and began hacking, be it weakly, on the wooden bar next to the space where they had already gotten one to pop off.

The lefthand cage met with a breakthrough, quite literally in this case. While Cecily maintained holding the elder, barely conscious Beppo upright, she could not help but continually glance back to the ongoing fray, particularly the actions and (to her) new changes to the erstwhile Constable. The others huddled in the cage as physically far away from the fire, and Cavendish, but also away from the continuing work upon the wooden bars. One couldn't call the corner they had left cozy, but densely occupied might have been appropriate. In any case, the breakthrough occurred when, upon seeing the progress that Baronfjord made with the wooden bar nearest him, switched his target and, with an affirming, "Mornin'!" as he drove his fishing rod into what remained of the Dragonborn's chosen bar, knocking it away from its moorings. It clattered to the ground below.

Wasting no time, Cecily did her best to get her human charge out of the more reasonably open aperture. Fully grown, Human-sized persons could now fit out, as Beppo demonstrated by making an unsteady egress right next to the Honey Barn performer, who was helping to keep him upright.



@Arty Fox Baronfjørd - You are good to go.

BlackBerry gave a great cry of delight; the bar was free, and surprisingly by the strike of a fishing rod. But getting the prisoners free was only half the fight and now it was to find someway for them to get out of danger. He spun on his heel so his back was to the cage, and cast his eyes about the battle field looking for their best escape. To send the prisoners directly a head would put them in Cavendish's line of sight, and to his left where he and the others had entered fire still blocked the path.

“Hurry now and be quick. But wait here a moment.” He stepped aside, letting the prisoners begin pouring out, and put his left fiery limb up to stop them going past the edge of the cage.

His gaze turn to his right where barrels of fire sat across the path but there was just enough room between them each for the Prisoners to possibly get through, or if not then they could go around and under the neighbouring trees. It was their best bet though not by much.

BlackBerry lowered his limb slightly to see over it and twist his head past the edge of the cage past Marita towards Cavendish. The flickering flames obscured his vision too much to see what was causing Cavendish to flail and should so he could only hope was causing a decent amount of pain. The horrid smell of burning flesh and fur from the dead monster was starting to become unbearable.

“Not much of a game when not playing fair.” He grumbled. Cavendish was frustratingly still far out of reach. How could one man be so much trouble?

“Wait.” Horror gripped his chest. He looked to Marita. “His companions, where are they?”

Barely waiting for an answer, Blackberry pulled his head back behind the cage and looked over towards the path to his right. His eyes darted past the freed prisoners towards the barrels barring the path, trying to spot any movement within the shadows of the trees lining it. Thankfully, he couldn’t see anything, no flash of light upon steel or movement of leaves. It was now or never; a skirmish like this was no place for civilians.

“No sign of the other ruffians this direction.” Throwing the comment back over his shoulder to Marita with almost a sigh of relief.

“It’s now or never. Get moving. Hurry.” He ordered the prisoners. A fiery limb unfurled towards the path. “Past the barrels and out of sight. Hide yourselves elsewhere and do not come out until dawn.”

One down, he looked to his left towards the other cage, one more to go. Thankfully the Kosara and Kathryn looked to be trying to break it open also. No point in risking his scales dashing over there just yet. Instead he picked up the now broken cage pole from the ground and tested its weight in his hand. Jagged edges at each end, it wasn’t weighted well at all to be used as any proper weapon but it could do well as something thrown. BlackBerry grinned, perhaps he didn’t need to get close to Cavendish at all.


@Sigil Guard 1's turn!! May he continue to not be around

I'm just a gigolo, everywhere I go
People know the part I'm playing
Paid for every dance, selling each romance
Oh, what they're saying?

And there will come a day, and youth will pass away
What will they say about me?
When the end comes, I know those were just a gigolo's
Life goes on without me

'Cause IIIIIIIIIIII ain't got nobody...

@Dragoknighte Marita's turn.