As the paladin strides forward, the imperial mage sizes him up and nods. "Alright. You'll do. Soldier, do be a dear and at least slow him down, alright?" The soldier looks none too happy to be asked to do this- less so when Xarius immediately cuts a gash in his arm by way of introduction.<br/><br/>"Mistress! I-"<br/><br/>"Shut up and do remember your training, there's a good boy," the mage says dismissively, still eyeballing Xarius in an unpleasantly hungry way. "Or- well, mages of my rank do hold officer rank by protocol, and we are in a combat situation, and you'd hate to see my punishment for mutiny."<br/><br/>With an audible gulp, the soldier shimmies back to stop being between Xarius and the Imperial mage, returning the paladin's slash with one of his own. In the bulky, unfamiliar armor he can't move as he'd like, and Xarius feels the blow land. No wound, but there was enough force to the blow to his chest that there's going to be a deep, angry bruise there until healed- enough to give him a bit of trouble inhaling much air. The mage, though, looks disappointed. "Is that all, soldier? Very well. You others," she calls, "Take the centaur while she's blinded, and do keep the mages from doing anything too unpleasant to you."<br/><br/>"Really?" Mona snorts. "That gold chain- you're with the Circle? Not quite master rank, though-"<br/><br/>"You recognize it?" Their foe smiles.<br/><br/>"I should say so. I was in it," Mona returns.<br/><br/>"Oh? What rank?"<br/><br/>"I failed my final examination..."<br/><br/>The mage laughs. "And then turned to a life of crime, to console yourself? How sad-"<br/><br/>"...when I burned down the testing center and the mage with a pretty gold chain who was administering the test. Xarius, or anyone who gets their mouth on her? Do me a favor and tear off that chain before swallowing. I think it'd look nice on me," Mona finishes. Gingerly easing around Chira's rump, she fires a thin, pale grey ray at one of the soldiers, who throws himself to one side to avoid the blow. Not letting her get in another free attack, he charges past Chira's front, slashing at Mona and cutting into her hip with a shallow but painful blow. His compatriot, not wanting to be left behind, moves forward and drives his sword into the centaur's front once more. Trumpeting her rage with a barely-stifled bellow, Chira rears and slams her hooves forward with lethal force... that the soldier barely twists away from. Instead of breaking his armor, instead the centaur's blow shatters a full keg of thin-looking ale, spilling it all over the deck in another unfortunately mis-aimed display of strength.<br/><br/>The crewmen, all blind, start groping towards the rope ladders, seeking only to escape the sudden chaos and warn their comrades. Garth stiffens, and calls, "Xarius! Do you want me to aid you, or slow the crewmen?"<br/><br/>((Xarius moves up and successfully slashes the soldier.<br/>Mona moves and casts ray of enfeeblement on the nearest soldier. She misses.<br/>Soldier #1 steps and slashes Xarius. 20 on the attack hits, 6 damage.<br/>Soldier #2 charges at Mona and attacks. Another 20 hits, for... 6 damage. Dicebot, you're lazy.<br/>Soldier #3 steps and attacks. 25 hits for, ouch, 12 damage.<br/>All three crewmen start cautiously and blindly moving for the rope ladders. Crewman #1 succeeds the save to stop being blind, #2 and #3 don't.<br/>Chira blindly attacks the soldier that stabbed her. She crits... and confirms... but blindness makes her miss. Would have dealt 34 damage. Does not succeed her save to stop being blinded.<br/><br/><a class="postlink" href="http://i.imgur.com/zn6EuAG.png">Map Here</a><br/><br/>Legend:<br/>Black circles are barriers (stacks of boxes, etc) that are impassible<br/>Gray circles are barrels or a few scattered boxes that count as Difficult Terrain<br/>The purple stars are rope ladders (DC 5 climb check to get up/down with two move actions, or DC 10 to climb/descend in 1 move action); the forward one goes down, the middle one goes up to the top deck. Can be cut with an attack from a sharp weapon.<br/>The yellow box is the area that's open to the sky; you can see a ramp raised up on the top deck that'll need to be lowered for Chira to climb to the top deck when you're done here.<br/>Red S's are soldiers like what you already fought, Cs are crewmen, and the red M seems to be<a class="postlink" href="http://i.imgur.com/kkehRHo.jpg">the lady in charge</a>.<br/>Dark Green letters are friendly NPCs (C-hira, M-ona, G-arth), light green are you (D-elia, X-arius).<br/>Each square is 5 feet.<br/><br/>Init-<br/>Delia 22 <- Here<br/>Mage 16<br/>Garth 13<br/>Xarius 12  (47/53 HP)<br/>Mona 11 (Lightly Wounded)<br/>Soldiers 7 (#1: Wounded #2: Charged )<br/>Crewmen 6 (#2: Blinded, #3: Blinded)<br/>Chira 4 (Blinded, Wounded, 1 medium meal (not stuffed yet))<br/><br/>Globals:<br/>Haste: 1 remaining rounds of Haste for the party. (+1 to attack rolls, +1 dodge bonus to AC and reflex rolls, movement speed +30', and can make 1 extra attack when doing a full attack action)))<br/>Inspire Courage: +2 to attack, damage, and saving throws against charm or fear effects.<br/>Glitterdust: Basically the entire cargo hold is glittery now (6 more rounds)))