Bittersweet Candy Bowl

She glares furiously at Keith, anger emanating from her eyes.
You’d be wise not to joke about serious matters. If you value your tongue, you’ll keep it in your mouth.

The door to the inn flies open as McCardell and Theresa rush in. He addresses the party.

I would suggest you all ready your selves for battle….now.

He moves purposefully towards Lily and hands her the letter

It seems someone does not want us here and is going to make certain that we never make it out of this town alive.

Theresa and McCardell get to the inn in a matter of minutes. Theresa bursts through the door and starts shouting.
“WE’RE ALL GONNA DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!”

Paulson jumps up and grabs his bow and quiver.

Well then what are we waiting for? Let’s move it people!

McCardell sighs heavily at Theresa

You do not inspire confidence at all…

Serious matters? What are you talking about? They only…

He is startled as the scouts storm inside.

Battle… looks like Icarus was right.

A shout rings out from the top of the tower as the unconscious guards are found. The patrols form lines at both the inn and the bridge out of the village. From the tower, guards archers from the next watch are woken early to take places at the top of the tower. The numbers are small, but with the reinforcements nearly at the village, the fight could quickly get out of hand. Bowstrings are taut, swords are drawn and a call comes from outside of the inn.

Surrender yourselves, and your sentencing will be lenient. Put up a fight and you will face death.

Konar get up from his chair
Well,somehow is a bit expected.
Get his sword ready for the battle

Grabs McCardell by the collar. I told you this was gonna be a theme, didn’t I?
“Well, I USUALLY DON’T HAVE TO DEAL WITH A FUCKING BRIGADE OF GUARDS, OKAY!”

Well guys what do you say, Do we fight like men, or surrender like cowards?

Makar jumped from surprise by the sudden appearance of McCardell and Theresa, taking out his sword.

Don’t rush straight to death, Paulson! We must think properly before acting. Blindly fighting them will only result in our ruin.

The knight rushed to his room and got his bag back, resting it under his cape.

She stands and looks at the others, claws at the ready.

Everyone gather your belongings now. Paulson, I do hope you are skilled with that bow, we’ll need it. We need to get out of here now.

But… they’re going to kill us all! I wasn’t even with you guys. Damn… why did I drag myself into this!?

I would be much safer waiting on the ship…

Dave jumps up, axe in hand. Fighting like a man is what I was born to do,

McCardell gently pushes Theresa out of the way

Theresa, do you have any more of those bombs? a smoke bomb would also do fine.

And Lieselotte, I’m going to need your ferocity shortly.

Amaja’s tail fwoofed out when both McCardell and Theresa busted into the inn, explaining things were about to get very heated. Jolting from her chair she looked around the others momentarily, then made a quick decision and grabbed onto lieselotte’s wrist and tugged at her lightly. Hoping she got her attention enough she bolted up the stairwell into her room, grabbing her satchel and throwing it over her shoulder. She shoved open her window and hopped into the sill and looked around to see an alleyway and the bamboo wall. She looked back momentarily before hopping out of the sill into the alleyway.

We need to decide what we are doing now. Fight or flight!

Looks like we’re going to fight…

Okay, since I’m pretty much screwed anyways, I can help you a bit to control the crowds from a distance. Just don’t let them get near me, I’m not a fighter… and I will die easily in battle.

She nods at Amaja and runs back down to the main room. McCardell, you toss those smoke bombs you have out the front, we’ll use them as distraction. Amaja found a route we can use to try to get the jump on them, we’re going to go out the back window. Paulson, you need to take out the archers as soon as we’re out there otherwise we’ll be finished.
She nods at them all, no time to repeat herself, she runs back upstairs to Amaja. I hope you’re ready for a fight.

Theresa grabs another smoke bomb and pulls the trigger. “Fuck this shit!” She then throws the bomb at the guards, which then explodes, sending smoke everywhere.

Nods and readies his bow while heading upstairs. Alright let’s go!

That sounds like a good plan. I’ll go with Paulson, I can guarantee his safety.

He follows Paulson.

meh

Paulson hurries to a window where he waits for McCardell.

At the sight of the smoke bombs, the order is given to charge. Guards storm through the the smoke and into the inn, weapons drawn and ready for a fight. The archers from the tower notice people climbing from the window, their calls to the guards below lost in the shouting, the take aim and fire.

He stands behind Paulson and lifts up a PSI shield, avoiding any arrows from hitting him.

She follows the others upstairs

I should’ve known this would happen sooner or later the guards didnt seem to friendly from the start

Sees the Archers reading to fire and beats them to the shot. He aims for the kill and lets his arrows fly.

Amaja sees an arrow sling past her and land into the ground beside her. She looked up towards the tower and threw her hands out to the ground. Her hands shook violently before throwing them high over her head, the earth before her erupting between them and the tower creating a shield of dirt and rock to stop the arrows from reaching the group trying to escape.

Delilah woke up shortly after Albert this morning and brought breakfast back up to their room. She heard a bang earlier but had ignored it, thinking it was just something else in this unfamiliar land, being on the wrong side of the building to see the smoke. Hearing a commotion from downstairs, the dancer emerges from her room carrying both her and Albert’s bags, beads clicking together as she walks towards the stairs in a green outfit familiar to those on the last adventure. She is a bit surprised when Albert dashes up the stairs to grab his things out of her hands.

It seems the guards decided that heroes or no, they want us dead anyway. Come on!

The knight takes the stairs two at a time, the dancer following close behind him, her feet tap-tap-tapping as she ascends back to the second floor of the inn, looking around a bit scared as everyone seems to be wailing, yelling, and readying their weapons.

So much for diplomacy… and here I thought we were going to negotiate…

Delilah leans back against the wall, holding her stomach, this feeling pure fear as Albert takes the rearguard position by the stairs, letting his companions by, keeping a keen eye out for soldiers.

“HEY!” Runs over to Paulson. “I said I wasn’t gonna let anything happen to you. I meant it. I’m coming with you.”

Well,it’s really better to flee for now cause we are a bit of outumbered.
Follow them upstairs but with his sword ready if needed.

After Paulson fired his arrows, several flew back in response. The arrows just bounce off Keith’s PSI shield.

The ground shakes and he falls to the ground, a big mountain now blocks the way. He loses concentration as he falls and the PSI shield is down.

Paulson grabs Theresa’s arm and pushes her towards the window. Well we’re all leaving now so get your ass out there. Jumps out the window and dashes down the ally, shooting guards as he goes. Come on guys move it!

GET OUT HERE NOW! WE NEED TO MOVE!
As guards start to come down the alley, she lunges into the air over them. They stare up at her in disbelief for a few seconds, an opportunity she takes to sink her claws into their faces. More guards start to circle her and she calls out to the others.
HELP HERE WOULD BE NICE!

Sure… first we enrage them and then we run.

He jumps out the window, following behind Paulson and Theresa.

THERE IS NOWHERE TO RUN!

LIESELOTTE! DAVE! KILL!

He runs into the melee to create an opening for the others by slashing throats and hamstrings left an right, the smoke swirling around his cape as bodies fell

“Don’t need to tell me twice!” Theresa books it, slashing at any guards that come too close.

Takes one of his arrows and uses it as a close range weapon to assist Lieselotte. You’re welcome.

The white Mage follows paulson out the window landing on her feet and running as fast she could down the alley

Amaja watches as Paulson moves quickly down the alley, she makes a sprint after him. Passing him up as he’s shooting the guards, she see’s two guards charge around the corner of a building into the alley and stand ready to block their advances. Throwing her hand back towards the ground she clutched her hand into a slashing position and thrust her hand forward, two spikes of earth firing from under her hand and into both of the guards torso piercing between their plates of armor, they both fall limp against the dirt. She runs past the two and looks back to see if the others are still behind them.

Dave rushes past Lieselotte to attack the guards coming towards her. He rams one guard off of his feet and swings his mighty axe into another

Don’t worry I’ve got you covered, but we need to get a move on.

Makar finally reached the others, using his sword as a shield to protect Lieselotte from the guards’ attacks and counter them.
My shield would come in handy if I still had it…

Paulson quickly places three arrows between his fingers. He turns his bow sideways and fires them into three guards necks as they rush towards the group. He reloads bow and turns to face his next foe.

Delilah shakes her head, sinking to her knees.

How can we beat them all? We can’t kill everyone in the village… its impossible… we should just…

Albert retreats down the hallway and grabs Delilah’s hand, tugging her up and away from the wall towards Lily, who helps guide her towards the window with the rest. The hedgehog speaks.

Its too late for that now. We have to find some way out first, THEN we can form a plan. There’s back ways through the village where we can avoid most of the guards, but the bridge is probably packed with guards. We need to find another way out… maybe the scouts left something set up we can use?

Lily pushes Delilah down the hall towards the room, the dancer finally snapping out of it as she sees another person jump out the window, the agile cat quickly following them, not wanting to lose the rest of the group. As she lands, an arrow streaks by, thunking loudly into the side of the windowframe and quivering there. Lily eyes it for a moment before leaping down herself, landing on all fours a bit more heavily than the cat did. Albert is the last, his sword glinting as he slides down the wall, then leaping out into the alleyway along Makar. As guards run through the smoke, he flicks a throwing knife at one of them, catching him in the throat and dropping him, smiling grimly as Lily complements his aim.

I was aiming for his eye…

Konar run with the group wile defeating some guards with fast slashing but not a letal slash that would kill,and using his sword to block some arrows that was targeting at him
I think we are almost leaving some of them behind.

Theresa and her group come across a particularly large guard, wearing heavy armor and wielding a large glaive. Needless to say, she freaks out.
“GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY!” She then charges the guard, thrusting one of her daggers into his exposed throat and stabbing through his neck. As the rest of her group rushes past, she notices the ornate guan dao that the guard was holding. “This could be useful…” She then grabs the glaive and throws it to Keith. “Hey, Keith! Catch!”

He jumps on a guard and plunges his knives into his face, and pushes off of his shoulders, doing a spinning backflip to shoot another guard in the face, landing on one farther away and crushing his skull under his boots.

Two guards panic and run at this display, leaving only an uncountable number

Keith is surprised as he sees the powers of the tabby, who seemed quite weak at first glance.

Wait… was that magic? Or was it… geokinesis?

He is so amazed by what he just saw that he completely ignores what is happening around him. He finally notices that he is not safe just standing there as a pair of guards try to flank him and attack him at the same time.

AHH!

He extends his hands at them as a reaction, releasing PSI energy to push them back and give himself some time to run away. Being quite surprised, he made the explosion stronger than he intended, piercing a hole on the soldier’s chests, and sending them flying backwards.

He starts breathing heavily, and runs behind the rest of the group.

He then notices Theresa throwing the weapon at him. He catches to avoid being hit by it falling.

But… I can’t fight! I’m not a warrior or a hero like all of you! I’m just a worker!

Paulson turns around to see a guard rounding the corner. He quickly dashes towards the wall and jumps on it, dashing a short distance while reading his bow and firing straight towards his eye.

As the guard drops, he jumps to the ground and lands in a crouch. He quickly readies another arrow and as another guard runs towards him, uses the angle to shot him directly under the neck and through the head.