Situation Report Twenty-one

General Summary

After perhaps one and a half bells of preparation, we're ready to ambush the Minister and his cronies when they return. Cherry and our newest recruit Numal lurk in the shadows in the trapdoor corridor below the warehouse; I'm positioned on some crates, ready to push one off to hinder any escape attempt; while Ugnan and Sylke wait behind a second stack of crates, spells at the ready. All too soon I hear loud conversation and the sounds of boots on the ladder to the warehouse and my heart begins to race as the adrenaline flows. I take a firm grip on Tarnak's Axe, put my shoulder to the precariously perched crate, and focus on the moonbeam near the stairs, looking for that tell-tale shadow. My heart is pounding now. "Steady lad. Steady. You really need to look into a change of career Cran." Just before the shit starts to fly, we overhear a certain Lady Vosh speaking with a figure called Dorn Vasser, "Tell Koren that although his transgressions are significant, he is still of use to The Eyes".
As two guards pass my perch and Vasser draws level I give the crate a right heave-ho and it crashes to the floor. "No going back now Cran."
Ugnans ringing voice pronounces, "Veracitor", and I squeeze my eyes shut, but the blinding flash that follows still leaves an afterimage of the lurking figures of the guards burned into my retina as I blink the bright spots away. Cries of, "I'm blind. Aargh. What's going on", make me smile with grim satisfaction as I leap to engage this Vasser. "Well done Ugnan. Well done." To my left flank a guard's screams of agony ends in a snotty gurgle as Sylke's shock bolt rips into his exposed face, the pungent smell of ozone and burned flesh roiling past me. "Poor bastard."
I discover after the ambush that Numal and Cherry started off strongly before succumbing to superior numbers down in the Cisterns. Apparently Numal has some real skill with a blade – skewering his first foe neatly through the eye and killing him instantly.
The three blind enemies start flailing around ineffectually but other soldiers, and this Lady Vosh begin spilling out into the warehouse from the ladder. Gripping the axe near the end of the handle in a somewhat risky maneuver, I pivot round a half-circle and the axe head bites cleanly through Vasser's neck, dropping his corpse and causing the head to tumble towards the stairwell before I take a long stride into the funneling space between the tumbled crate and the wall of the warehouse. "Blind then dead in the blink of an eye. That's a shitty day."
Parrying a thrust from one of the new soldiers trying to pass me, I crack him in the side of the head with the flat of my axe and see his head bounce off the wall, dazing him. "Where has Vosh gone?" I think but it's suddenly gone from my mind as Ugnan shouts, "They're in trouble downstairs Cran. Get down there. We'll take care of these guards."
I barrel past the stunned guard and crash down the stairs, sliding down the ladder where I emerge into the depths. As I round the corner I see the agony on Numal's deathly white, perspiring face as he clutches his shattered arm, and Cherry's collapsed at the end of the passage leading to the massive water-filled cistern. I bellow in fury as I sprint down the passage and dispatch the soldier looming over Cherry with a mighty swing of my axe. "Ugnan. They're both in trouble", I scream over my shoulder as I drop to my knees beside Cherry.
After what seems like an age where I feel completely lost on how to help Cherry, Ugnan appears by my side, with a, "OK lad I'll take this from here." I turn back again to face the foot of the ladder and see another soldier moving to attack Numal. "Oh no you don't", I bellow as I engage him, my axe ripping across the side of his chest in a one-handed upper-cut, that shears up under his arm, severing it at the shoulder.
I'm concerned for Sylke upstairs and clamber up the ladder again to check on her. My concern was ill-founded. She seems to have held her own against the soldiers threatening her. The least wounded of our enemies in the warehouse looks like he's attempting an escape, but I manage to tackle him to the ground and truss him up. "Stand down everyone. That's the last of them." I shout, reflecting on a very satisfactory tally for me, but unnecessary injuries to the crew. And Lady Vosh is nowhere to be seen.
I help carry the mostly-healed figures of Cherry and Numal up to the warehouse before Ugnan manages to clamber up to the warehouse a few minutes later. He looks haggard, having just transferred some horrible wounds from our companions. "You're a mad fucker Ugnan. Who in their right mind would voluntarily injure themselves like you do?!"
Ugnan smiles wanly at me before casting a spell of friendship on one of the guards. Ugnan discovers some eye-opening new information, including a total lack of remorse from the mercenaries. Sylke and I finally undertake the grisly task of dispatching the injured soldiers and we retreat to a separate room to ponder these new revelations.

Report Date

02 Feb 2019

Primary Location

Sel-kai