Karmoli's A Great Upheaval

A flash of light streaks from Essie and sears into Xolkin’s back, and now a dim glittering light surrounds her in addition to the slight frost. The attack does half damage (5), but you can see that the Zhent leader is starting to show some wear.

Just then, Sphyboe’s voice rings out, calling for a pause in the hostilities to honor Lady Nandar. Everyone stops, looks at Sphyboe and then looks at each other. Xolkin lowers her scimitar and turns toward the speaker, staring at her with incredulity. “You care so deeply for Lady Nandar?” She glances over her shoulder at Kella, then continues. “But you were not able to protect her from her fate. She is gone, food for worms now. ‘Tis Nightstone that matters now. We will take better care of this village than you or the good lady. I will not stop you from leaving. You may mourn somewhere on the road.” And she gestures out the front gate.

As she begins to turn back to the fight, Alara scowls with fury and says, “We will not abandon our post.” The guard stabs at her with her spear (at advantage). (Attack: 16 Damage: 3) Torem moves a little to engage with the blond fellow on horseback. (Attack: 11 Damage: 5) With a determined look on his face, Kaelen renews his attack on Kella. (Attack: 20 Damage: 6).

Perhaps it is her anger that causes Alara to miss her target, even when her target is highlighted for her. Torem's spear strikes through, injuring the blond Zhent, and Kaelen finally gets his first hit on Kella. As she grunts a little in pain, Xolkin looks her way once more. (Essie and Daerthe get the feeling that Xolkin has some concern for Kella's wellbeing.)

(And we're at the top of the round again: Daerthe is up, followed by Xolkin and Helena. Bramble is still unconscious.)

Seeing that concern for Kella, Daerthe will raise her bow and take aim at her. Cursing as she takes aim and draws the string back on her bow she grits her teeth, letting the arrow fly towards Kella.

Shortbow: Attack: 15 Damage: 9

Sneak Attack: 3

Concentrating fiercely, Daerthe fires an arrow which pierces deeply just above Kella’s shoulder blade. Hearing her lieutenant’s stifled cry of pain, Xolkin calls out, “Kalba! Dero! Make yourselves useful! Do something about that drow in the shadows.” And she strikes again at Alara with her scimitar. First attack: 11 Damage: 8. Second attack: 24 Damage: 4. The first attack slashes Alara's arm. She is greatly weakened, but she manages to dodge the second. Xolkin curses and swipes at the guard with her dagger: Attack: 21 Damage: 7. Again, Alara dodges the attack and now she is the one smiling, though barely standing.

(Bramble is unconscious and Helena is up, followed by the Zhents. By the way, I think the dice rolls are all correct. I just tripped the error message when adding flavor.)

(Edit: Welp, I guess I did mess it up. Really, truly, only the first of Xolkin's attacks hit.)

Helena will use her last spell, casting sleep once more. I am not sure of placement of enemies, but she will target as many as she can without getting any of her companions in the mix. She targets those with ranged attacks as her priority, but wants the most she can get into the area of effect as possible.

HP put to sleep: 20

If everyone is just too-mixed together for that, then she will use another ray of frost

To hit: 13 Damage: 7
Targeting the leader of the enemies.

Helena quickly takes in everyone on the field and casts Sleep a third time, making sure that only Zhents are in its 20-foot radius. The blond human slumps again, this time slipping off of his horse which wanders away once its rider is gone. The black-haired female dwarf also drops to the ground asleep. Seeing his comrades fall once more, the pale human curses under his breath. However, he seems more interested in wreaking vengeance on Torem who helped kill his sister (you assume, based on the similarity of their looks). He draws his scimitar as he nudges his horse closer to the guard. Attack: 19 Damage: 6

Interested only in following orders, the red-head looks for a clear shot at Daerthe and fires his crossbow in her direction. Attack: 20 Damage: 2

Torem is barely standing after the scimitar slashes across his stomach. Daerthe, however, makes good use of the shadows and dodges the crossbow bolt.

(Ryndar is up, followed by Kella, Essie, and Sphyboe)

Seeing Torem staggering under the weight of repeated blows, Ryndar focuses his aim on the Zhent he is engaged with.

Attack: 22 Damage: 6

Ryndar takes careful aim and fires. The arrow takes the pale Zhent by surprise as it strikes his back, piercing into his lungs. His eyes go wide and he falls from his horse to the ground, slain. Seeing another supporter fall, Kella hisses, “Enough!” and strikes at Kaelen. Attack: 20 Damage: 3.

Kaelen falls to the ground, unconscious. Kella nods with satisfaction and moves to the west side of Alara, flanking with Xolkin. Again, she strikes with her short sword. Attack: 21 Damage: 5

 Alara just manages to swing her shield around to defend against the blow, but she is looking very worried.

Status of the fight:

 (Essie and Sphyboe are up, followed by the guards.)

With her allies starting to drop like flies, Essie freezes for a second. But she shakes it off quickly. She has to stay focused. Seeing one of the guards in the thick of things and being flanked, Essie casts Shield of Faith on Alara. Then she furrows her brow and draws her crossbow, deciding to move just far enough to get a clear shot at Kella. And she fires.

Attack: 2 Damage: 3

Essie, too, is worried by the vicious attacks against the guards of Nightstone. She reaches out a hand to Alara, whispers a word of hope, and a protective shimmer appears around the valiant guard, beset on either side by enemies. Essie’s face then becomes more serious and stern as she strides south for a better view of Kella. She draws a crossbow bolt back and lets it fly. It finds its mark and Kella takes a third wound. She is looking quite weak. The look on Xolkin’s face is a powerful mixture of anger and fear.

(Sphyboe is up, followed by the guards.)

"I had no intention to harm you or your friends, as you can see I never inflicted any deadly damage"- the sorcerer makes quick gesture for the guards to stop fighting temporarily while drawing a long vertical line immediately supplementing it with a shorter horizontal one to intersect the previous one. "Ｅｎｃｉｋ"- she whispers in elvish at the same time finishing the somatic movements with a curved line.

The sorcerer casts Charm Person on the half-elf Xolkin when she's found within the range of 30 feet, a pink aura attempts to engulf the humanoid. Her intention has been to enchant the woman into surrendering herself so that the guards can take her as a prisoner, then she wishes to strike a good bargain with the Zhents. But Sphyboe seems uncertain if the woman will survive the repeated blows from her own comrades.

(Xolkin has advantage on the Wisdom Saving Throw if the guards keep fighting, your call)

Sphyboe takes this opportunity to try to defuse the situation, gesturing for the guards to hold their attacks. She then whispers an incantation in elvish while drawing in the air, attempting to charm the leader of the Zhents. (Xolkin’s Wisdom saving throw at advantage: 12)

Breathing heavily, the Zhentarim leader stares at Kella's serious wounds. She lowers her scimitar and turns to Sphyboe with a pleading look in her eyes. Torem uses this opportunity to grab a crossbow and handful of bolts from a fallen Zhent and take a more defensive position at the southeast corner of the temple. Watching both Xolkin and Kella carefully, Alara steps out from between them toward Sphyboe. She prepares to dodge any attacks and says, "Have you had enough, then?" (Meanwhile, Kaelen must make a death saving throw: 17)

Kella looks back and forth between Xolkin, Sphyboe, and the others with some confusion but also a lot of pain. "What's going on?"

Xolkin gently grabs her arms and moves her a few steps away from Alara and Sphyboe. She whispers, "We must live to fight another day." Then she turns to Sphyboe, "Surely this is all a misunderstanding. You must tell your friends to stop fighting. We wished to bring new prosperity to Nightstone, but it seems you do not welcome our offer of leadership. We will go and trouble you no more." She waits for Sphyboe's response while keeping an eye out for incoming attacks from the others.

(Anyone may join the conversation at this point.)

"Nobody's getting out of the Nightstone without proper treatment"- Sphyboe raises her voice so that everybody can hear her then continues with sarcastic undertone, "We might arrange a tea-party to serve our guest, also provide them with comfortable accommodation". She frowns at the fallen guard Kaelen, immediately averting her gaze at the standing guard, then she's seen mouthing the word 'dungeon', a clear indication to imprison all of the Zhents.

Xolkin responds, “Thank you for your kind offer, my friend, but we have clearly trespassed on the hospitality of this fine village for long enough.” She leans toward Sphyboe and whispers loudly, “I’m not sure I trust these guards or your other friends. They have been very cruel to Kella, here. Do you think they would accept some payment for the trouble we have caused and let us be on our way? I have some coin and gems.”

During this exchange, Torem sees that the fighting is halted for the moment. He edges up to Kaelen, kneels, and attempts to stabilize his fallen comrade. (Medicine check: 1) Meanwhile Alara whispers in Sphyboe’s ear.

Essie sees Torem kneeling beside the fallen guard and makes her way over to them. "Maybe I can help some?" she says, kneeling down as well. She reaches out and puts a hand on Kaelen's shoulder. Her hand glows with a bright light for a moment as she uses Healing Hands, restoring 2 HP to the guard. "It's not much, but it'll allow them to get back on their feet," she tells Torem with a smile as she pulls her hand back away.

Daerthe keeps her bow drawn and aimed towards Kella since she seemed to be important to the Zhentarim leader. Since it seems like things have calmed down she will move closer but still stay about thirty or so feet away.

Helena has cool blue light around her raised hand, ready to blast any of them with a blast of cold if they start something again. She otherwise holds her action and waits to see how this conversation turns out.

Ryndar lowers his bow, leaving an arrow knocked and ready to react to any renewed aggression.

Quote from Karmoli >>

Xolkin responds, “Thank you for your kind offer, my friend, but we have clearly trespassed on the hospitality of this fine village for long enough.” She leans toward Sphyboe and whispers loudly, “I’m not sure I trust these guards or your other friends. They have been very cruel to Kella, here. Do you think they would accept some payment for the trouble we have caused and let us be on our way? I have some coin and gems.”

 

 "I would rather accept such kind of amiable offerings, than refuse it dismissively. I don't know about others decisions"- Sphyboe speaks out after receiving a wise advise from Alara, followed by a quick nod sent to the guard to affirm the proposal.

"Hurry up, Alara! She will remain charmed for a period of one hour, let's boot her out of Nightstone as soon as possible."

Alara steps back up to Xolkin. “I feel confident that this capable group could capture or kill you if necessary. But I would rather you go forth and spread the word that Nightstone is well defended, not the easy pickings that you assumed. You have however caused quite a ruckus. On behalf of the village and these defenders, I will accept your payment.” She holds out her hand. (Intimidation: 8)

As Xolkin pulls a pouch from her belt, Kella grabs her arm. “Alassandra! What are you doing? We could still win this. The Snail will be angry!’ 

Xolkin pushes Kella back toward the gate. “No. We have already lost three from our company. You are badly injured. I will not risk your death as well. We will do as she says and inform the Snail that Nightstone is a poor target.” She tosses the pouch to Alara. "I think this will cover our debt."

Meanwhile, the red-headed Zhent awakens the two sleepers. Unless someone steps in to stop them, they all gather their horses and depart over the drawbridge.

As soon as they are out of town Helena will ask someone to help her put the drawbridge back up.