Subject: Invasion 3; More Ineptitude

Pitching his voice so that it carries through the increasing clamor outside, Buchek says, in a flat, unsettling tone, "If you think I'll sit here and burn quietly you're a bigger fool than you look. Free me NOW, bastard, or I'll gut you when I free myself." He takes the bars of the door between his hands, shaking them to punctuate his words as he says "Open. This. Door."

[Intimidation 16 v. resist 9, success]

For a long moment, there is only the sound of action outside, but just as Buchek was about to howl in anger and frustration, the guard shows his head into the hallway from the common room.

Giving furtive glances, he warily moves closer to the iron door, fumbling for his key. He is just within Buchek's armsreach when a commotion of bodies tumbling into the common room startles him. The guards are shouting and scrambling for weapons, and the keyguard turns his head sharply to look back down the hall to the common room.

...

Erk and Kayla continue to run, now outside arrow range, but a glance back shows that several of the wooden buildings have started to catch. Erk reaches the entranceway to the tower to see a group of guards pushing against one another, some trying to come out and fight while others are trying to enter to grab weapons and equipment. Kayla is 30 feet behind.

...

The barbarian sees Holn standing before him and swings his mace at the sorcerer's head with a primal yell. Calmly, Holn takes one step backward, and the mace swings harmlessly in front of his face. [Attack 1, auto miss]. Strange sounds and gestures come to Holn's lips and hands as he reaches to touch the raider on his chest to deliver another jolt of electricity. As he speaks in a low whisper, the raider changes the direction of his mace and takes a backhand swipe aimed at Holn's ribcage. The blow lands squarely against the lower ribs, but glances harmlessly off, sending a ripple through the hazy shimmer surrounding the man. [Attack 17 v. AC 18, miss].

Finishing his incantation, Holn reaches for the stunned raider's mace arm to deliver his spell, but something in his eye frightens the barbarian enough to withdraw his arm suddenly and take a step backward. [Touch attack 5 v. AC 13, miss]

...

Telwyn glances back at the two figures advancing across the bridge, and sees several more moving shapes appear in the distance, moving hurriedly toward him. Reaching down for his bow, he makes to run back into the encampment - surely no bell is needed at this point to alert the guards to attack.

As bends to grab his weapon, he feels the displacement of air as the barbarian again swings hard over his head. With the marauder off balance and his bow in hand, Telwyn sprints down the path, hoping he doesn't catch an arrow in his back for his trouble.

...

Elotai stands, turning from the boy and drawing a small piece of leather from his spell pouch. Concentrating for a moment, he makes an unintelligible sound and his skin takes on a silvery sheen as though caught in moonlight. Drawing his sword, he turns to the boy.

"Coming?"

Bermid dully gets to his feet, blood clotted around his nose and upper lip, and walks almost in a daze toward the door where Elotai is standing.

Subject: Invasion 3; More Ineptitude

Elotai looks at the boy. He?d hoped that the breather would have woken him up a bit, but that didn?t seem to be the case. He turns to face the human fully, stepping aside from the door. ?What?s your name??

[OOC: I?m going to assume that Bermid gives Elotai his name.]

Babysitting a human child in a stupor was not high on Elotai?s list of things to be doing. But if Bermid was leading the expedition to the west, helping him could allow Elotai to gain a ?lawful? berth as a member. The guardhouse was probably the safest place to take the boy, if Elotai could keep him alive long enough to get him there.

?Bermid. I?ll take you to the guardhouse, maybe your companions are there.? He steps out of the door and looks around. ?If you?re coming, at least draw your sword.?

Subject: Re: Invasion 3; More Ineptitude

Kayla continues running down the street.

No, really, she does. Run, run, . . . run.

"Ah-hey, Erk's a quick one," she thinks to herself. As soon as she reaches the tower, she will try to slip in without anyone noticing. If someone questions her, Kayla intends to reply that she's looking for Telwyn. After all, he was going to stay with Buchek.

Subject: Re: Invasion 3; More Ineptitude

> Giving furtive glances, he warily moves closer to the iron door, fumbling for his key. He is just within Buchek's armsreach when a commotion of bodies tumbling into the common room startles him. The guards are shouting and scrambling for weapons, and the keyguard turns his head sharply to look back down the hall to the common room.

For a moment, Buchek thinks of snatching the keys from the guard and freeing himself. If he were truly trapped in this cell, fearing immolation, he'd probably do just that, but his knowledge of the cell's "back door" provides enough comfort to keep himself under control. If he were to assault the guard now, and Caro weren't burned to the ground by the raiders...

"Hurry, bastard."

Subject: Re: Invasion 3; More Ineptitude

OOC: It's just a touch, dude! Never mind the ozone and burnt hair smell, that's just you! I wish Holn had a decent melee strike.

Holn watches the barbarian warily, as his swipe misses. The ball is in the barbarian's court....

Subject: Re: Invasion 3; More Ineptitude

Erk bulls his way past the guards coming and going. ?Where is Buchek? Where did you put the prisoner?? he yells to them, as he begins searching his way through the tower. If he comes across Buchek and the guard with the keys, he will demand that the guard release the barbarian. If not, he will continue to search.

Subject: Re: Invasion 3; More Ineptitude

Once he's inside the compound, Telwyn continues to run as fast as he can toward the guard tower where Buchek is being held. He sheathes his short sword as he runs. (OOC: IIRC, you're allowed to combine sheathing/unsheathing a weapon with a move action, so he can still move 4x his base movement in this turn.) If he meets any raiders along the way that cannot be bypassed he will engage them at as long a range as possible with his bow.

Subject: No Turn Today

Sorry, guys. No turn today. It's actually gonna be spotty for me over the rest of this week and next, with regards to my getting turns out to you. I have 30,000 words I need to write for the 27th, after reading 93 pages of background material - and I'm going away this coming weekend.

So, that means I'm gonna be a bit strapped for time, and this game is a huge time commitment that can be easily postponed for a while until I get settled again.

Ideally I'll be able to get another turn out this week (if only as a means of procrastinating from the freelance work), but it won't be consistent.

I apologize, and I'll hit you guys back when I get a chance.