"It shall be done," Garth replies to Xarius solemnly. The priest was in a hellish situation, fighting beside literal demons and with gear he barely knew how to use; that there were a few people who could be trusted was nearly his only solace. Holding the sword at the ready, he jabs a few times at the soldier, never quite connecting. Instead, his irritated human counterpart turns from the blind centaur. "Gods," the soldier snarls. "You took that sword off one of my friends, din'tcha? Just drop it and go back to your cell, and nobody here has to die-" punctuating that word, he thrusts and gores Garth's shoulder with the tip of the sword, almost driving it through armor, flesh, and armor again through-and-through. Garth backs off a few steps with a bellow of pain, holding his wound with his free hand... but his eyes start to glint in an unpleasant way, the orcish side of his heritage charging to the fore after being wounded.<br/><br/>Of course, the others don't take kindly to the assault. Chira, for one, bellows her defiance and lunges forward, snatching up... a full barrel of fresh water. Rather than put it down, she vents her frustration by hurling the barrel at the wall, exploding in a spray of wet wood. Just like that, she blinks rapidly, eyes clearing... and focusing on the armored human in front of her. Mona, too, snaps, "Hey! He's mi- I mean, how dare you!" Spinning away from the soldier menacing her, the sorceress thrusts both arms out dramatically. A bolt of eye-searing flame lances from both hands, one going an inch shy of a soldier's head to sputter out on the freshly-wetted wall, and the other hitting the back of the lucky soldier now prompting the full attentions of Mona, Chira, and Garth alike for his brief success. There's a whiff of burnt hair and flesh as the fiery blast lands, and the soldier yelps in clear pain. His comrade lunges forward, moving by surprise to wrap the redheaded sorceress in a bearhug, shoving her back against the wall and pinning her in place. "That..." the elvish man growls, "...was a mistake."<br/><br/>The mage pulls her sword out, dripping blood and still crackling with electrical energy. Delia can tell her tail's not quite strong enough to prevent the irate Imperial mage from continuing to drive it home until she's released... but the same thing is clear to Xarius. The mage can't see him coming, as Delia's lips are already around most of her face and trying to pull her in without further delay. The first warning she has is when Xarius's hand covers hers around the sword's hilt, and due to the surprise she can't keep him from simply yanking her blade away. "What?! NO!" She yells into Delia's tongue, flailing futilely in Xarius's direction as he hoists his prize. It's a very well balanced, light weapon, perfect for someone of less strength unlike the massive blades the soldiers favor; Xarius can also feel the magic on it. Not the best weapon he's ever seen, but an extremely useful one. While he turns back towards his soldier, that worthy presses his attack home, with one roundhouse slash that Xarius ducks under and another, lower one that dents in the armor around the feline's knees and almost sends him sprawling. Each of the blows wasn't much, and Xarius knows he's got this soldier outmatched- it's just a question of how many bruises and cuts he'll have when the man is dispatched.<br/><br/>Seeing this, a crewman with a bushy fox's tail yelps, "I'll go get the commander, mistress! Hold on to- er- something!" And dives down the rope ladder heading to the ship's quarters. While another elvish crewman gropes towards the ladder leading to the main deck, the third makes a run for it. This brings him into Garth's peripheral vision, and the priest without any hesitation swings his sword right at the fleeing man's chest. The sword bites deep, and his target goes down in a bleeding heap. Not dead, but... more wounded even than the ratling in the hallway, and unlikely to survive logn without help that seems unlikely to come. Bearing his fangs, Garth growls and spits at the feet of his soldier, ferocity bubbling in his veins and not even paying attention to the display of savagery he'd just exhibited.<br/><br/><br/>((First some rules: Disarms prompt a attack of opportunity, and it's a -4 penalty to try to disarm-and-grab the weapon instead of just making the target drop it. That still hits for Xarius, so I will say he is now the proud wielder of a +1 rapier! Anything that doesn't have a mechanical effect (like the chain) I will allow to be stripped off without any actions.<br/>Soldier 1's AOO is a 19, and only fails due to the haste. The rapier is grabbed and, presumably, equipped. Also, Xarces, remember that weapon finesse will only get you +1 compared to a strength-based weapon because you're wielding a shield with a +1 armor check penalty. Still better!<br/>Mona casts Scorching Ray defensively. Concentration check is 28 vs. DC 19, spell goes off. One ray at each nearby soldier, each at -4 for being in melee. The one right in front of her misses, but Soldier 3 gets hit for 13 damage.<br/>Soldier #1 keeps trying to attack Xarius. Crits! ...but doesn't confirm. 8 damage.<br/>Soldier #2 grabs Mona. 19 beats her CMB.<br/>Soldier #3 decides it's safe enough to neglect the blind centaur and attacks Garth. Crits! ...and confirms! 22 damage to the poor orc.<br/>Crewman #1 flees down the ladder. Reinforcements incoming.<br/>Crewman #2 moves to the rope ladder. Crewman #2 is no longer blind.<br/>Crewman #3 also moves to the topside rope ladder. Garth AOOs; pronounces Judgment of Sacred Destruction on the crewman. Attack hits for 16 damage. Crewman #3 is KO'd.<br/>Chira grabs the soldier that stabbed her buddy orc. Grab succeeds, but the blindness check fails. Chira is no longer blind.<br/><br/><a class="postlink" href="http://i.imgur.com/CLiTDQ7.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 (34/52 HP, Grappling Mage) <- Here<br/>Mage 16 (Grappled by Delia)<br/>Garth 13 (Wounded)<br/>Xarius 12  (39/53 HP)<br/>Mona 11 (Lightly Wounded, grappled by Soldier #2)<br/>Soldiers 7 (#1: Wounded, #2 grappling Mona, #3: Wounded )<br/>Crewmen 6 (#3: Unconscious, Dying)<br/>Chira 4 (Wounded, 1 medium meal (not stuffed yet))<br/><br/>Globals:<br/>Haste is gone.<br/>Glitterdust: Basically the entire cargo hold is glittery now (5 more rounds)))