Act 2: Upheaval III - The Master Weaver and the Arena

Goodman shakes his head and sighs. "Enough talk. We all know how this ends."

"Hold up one second. In case you end up dead from this, i'd like to know how we can cure these people here."

"I'll let everyone know back home what a cracked asshat you were right till the end."

Readied Action: Steve maintains his readied action to cast a spell on the first enemy that attacks him or his friends.

The master weaver chuckles at Mihai before focusing his attention on Steve again. "Oh, I believe they already know."

He raises his hands, ready to cast a spell.

OOC:

Konrad nods at Goodman's rhetorical question. 'This' ends in corpses and fire. He adjust his stance for combat.

Not flatfoot
Ready Action
As soon as the discussion is ended by Steve or Goodman.
Move: Retrieve bomb and detonator with telekinesis. Action: Bull Rush the mindslave in front of me.

The battle began to the party's advantage, or so they believed.

The woven runes on Goodman's victims empowered them with the ability to summon a shield and a sword made of elemental energy. Steve's response was to cast two non-lethal spells that would allow Konrad and Mihai to knock their enemy unconscious, but his magical offensive was soon stopped by Goodman himself. The master weaver cast Quick on himself, allowing himsef to move at a superhuman speed and cast even more spells than before, one of which was Silence. If only Steve had listened more to Professor Thomen's lecture on how to cast spells without the vocal component.

Konrad retained his ability to cast spells however and he used it efficiently. Against all odds, he managed to curse Professor Goodman and weaken him greatly to all types of damage, which could prove useful if any of the adventurers got past the tattooed warriors and close up the distance with him. They had forgotten one important detail however; the two guards in the wine cellar, who after hearing the commotion in the hallway, joined the battle and attacked the party from behind.

Fluffle and Florolf stood their ground and protected Amber from any harm, giving her enough time to summon her Aspect of Light. Unfortunately for the carbuncle however, the female subject wounded him gravely, and could have even killed him if it wasn't for Steve joining the fray and Fluffle healing his injuries.

Mihai and Konrad were plenty busy fighting the other four subjects at the end of the hallway, and just when they had downed two of them, two archers appeared from around the corners to attack them. The situation got even worse when Tristan Goodman cast Haste on the archers, which made them even more deadly than before. Konrad had had enough of the yellow's mage deadly tricks and he decided to attack him directly, hoping to kill him before the situation got even worse. Mihai downed two more shield-bearing warriors and then assisted Konrad by flanking Goodman.

Goodman turns just in time to see the blade of Waterglass hurtling at him in a massive half-moon swing. He doesn't have time to process what it means before his head is sent flying clean off in a flawless cut that barely leaves any gore behind as the Ice blade flash-freezes all the blood that would otherwise come gushing out. The adjacent wall is not so lucky however, as Waterglass crashes with all it's momentum into a massive gash, sending bits of mortar flying in every direction.

Meanwhile, Sunny had for the very first time used her Desperation ability; she hovered into the air and summoned four pillars of light in the shape of her longswords, which hurled bolts of elemental energy at her enemy every six seconds. Furthermore, a shell of light surrounded her whole body and defended her from the enemy's attacks. Once Sunny had gathered enough energy, she threw the pillars of light at all of the tattooed warriors in her sight, which included the two archers in the other room.

Despite the important losses they had suffered, including Tristan Goodman's death, the warriors showed no sign of despair or even concern for their own lives. The adventurers continued to fight despite their significant injuries, until only one of these unwilling subjects was left standing; the woman who first spoke to the party members when they entered the basement. Amber raised her crossbow at her and after a short moment of hesitation, shot her right between the eyes.

The loud thud that followed marked the end of this bloody battle.

Fluffle realized that except for him and Amber, everyone else was injured. The fairy wasted no time and began healing his companions, starting with Florolf. The young teenager, shaken by what she just experienced, reloaded her crossbow and turned away from the carnage.

The naked woman on the table, gagged and incapable of turning her head, moaned in a pleading manner. The three other prisoners who hadn't left their cells, or been marked by Goodman's experiments, implored Mihai and Konrad to free them from their prison with wide arm gestures.

They also had been gagged, just like the naked woman.

Already preparing to charge at the remaining warriors, Mihai bolts forward to end the fight, as he sees - to his horror - his sister dealing the deathblow.

Not knowing who to turn to first, he kneels worriedly by the now blood-covered Florolf until Fluffle is done healing him, then nudges Amber away from the carnage and toward the cells, hoping freeing the prisoners will give her some closure.

Once Florolf is completely healed, he slowly walks up to Amber and stays at her side, protecting her. The teenager notices him but can't find any words to say for now, so she follows Mihai into the lab area.

Fluffle has now begun to heal Konrad and will switch to Mihai after that.

The prisoners are still anxiously waiting their rescuers to free them.

Blood pumps at decreasing intervals through Konrad's veins as he comes down from the pulsing high to which he had yielded himself in the heat of the fight. He exhales slowly as the steam in his mind gives way to a flux cloud of relief and satisfaction. He looks around.

"Thank you Fluffle." He waits a moment for the fairy to heal up the obvious signs of damage - cracked skin, chest holes - before waving him off.

"That's good enough for me. Go stabilize the dying. Let's get some cuffs on them," he commands, ignoring the kidnapped prisoners like the cries of bleating sheep. He would tend to them in a minute. For now, he'll stoop to the nearest unconscious person that Fluffle has decided to heal and roll him over to apply his masterwork woven shackles with the wrists behind his back.

Steve will grab his wound to try to stop the bleeding. "Fuck, I don't know how you guys do it. I much prefer being the mage rather than the meatshield," he says to no one in particular. He follows the others, waiting for his turn at being healed.

Amber by his side, Mihai starts releasing the prisoners, starting with the woman strapped to the gurney.

"It's a tough job, drawing everyone's attention like I do," Konrad chuckles, "but I can take it, and it helps having a fairy around to kiss the booboos."

The fairy nods at Konrad and flies away to tend to Steve's wounds. "Don't worry, I'll kiss your booboos," he tells the black mage with the hint of a smile on his face.

Mihai attempts to unlock the shackles that hold the naked woman to the table, but fails to do so.

"There's got to be a key somewhere around here..." Amber says. She turns her attention to the table placed against the wall and starts going through the piles of notes and books, searching for a set of keys. Sunny stays right next to the door, opting to watch over Goodman's victims while Konrad puts his pair of woven shackles on one of the archers.

The prisoners in the cells, three men of various ages, calm down when they realized what the adventurers are doing.

Mihai at least ungags the woman, then takes off his coat and covers her with it.

Steve barks out a short laugh at Konrad's comment, glad for a release from the adrenaline and tension of the battle. "Thanks Konrad. And thank you Fluffle. I'm glad you were here. I'm definitely telling Breeze about this when we rescue everyone. I'm sure she'll give you lots of hugs and kisses."

"Hopefully they gave her something to read. I'd hate for her to get bored waiting for us."

Konrad will put his normal manacles on the next surviving mindslave.

Fluffle keeps his arms raised above Steve's wounds and he lets the magic flow out of his hands. The mention of Breeze brings a sad smile to his face, and responds to the black mage with a nod. "I just hope she's okay." He listens to Konrad's comment and then adds, "I started reading because of her."

Meanwhile, Mihai removes the rope out of the woman's mouth, and she immediately says in Wytrwaly, "Thank you... Thank you so much."

Tears well up in her eyes and she begins to sob uncontrollably. Amber looks back at her for a short moment and then resumes the search with more ardor than before.

Konrad has successfully restrained another tattooed warrior.

"We'll get you out of here soon." - he then proceeds to go check Goodman's corpse for a key. Failing that, he'll join Amber.

That pit in his heart threatens to rear its ugly head but Steve swallows that fear right back down again and says, "Chin up Fluffle. I'm sure we'll see her again someday."

Konrad nods. "What's your genre? Mine's gothic. Steve, can I borrow your woven manacles?"

"Of course." He pulls them out of his bag of holding, which hangs from his belt, and offers them to Konrad. "Here you go."

"Thanks." He cuffs the next mindslave.

Mihai proceeds to loot Professor Goodman's headless body and finds these objects:

• a key similar to the one Rafal gave him, but slightly different in design;
  
• another key that he believes would fit the shackles on the table at the center of the room and maybe even the cell doors;
  
• a small bag;
  
• a golden ring with a ruby embedded in the middle;
  
• and a intricately designed dagger.
  

Now that Fluffle has finished healing Steve, he flies to Mihai's side and answers Konrad's question at the same time. "I haven't decided yet." He examines the fighter's wounds and says with a worried tone, "This looks really bad... Don't move too much, okay?"

Amber turns away from the table and faces her brother. "Found anything?" she asks. "There's nothing here."

She's still rattled by what she just experienced, but the goal of freeing the prisoners seems to have given her enough focus to ignore that.

Konrad has now restrained three of the four experimental subjects who are still alive.

"Try this." - Mihai hands her the key - "Start with the woman on the gurney."

Mihai accompanies Amber, trying not to move too much - "Sorry Fluffle, bear with me a bit."

Konrad joins Fluffle, Amber, and Mihai at the Goodman's corpse. "Could one of you lend me some woven manacles?"