Ula looks back towards the door that Vonth is leaning against.

"Ethel was with us in the mess hall," Ula says. "I'm not really sure how it exploded so quickly in there."

Hammerdasher looks up when Ula starts speaking and he adds. "Oh, I'll tell you lass. Those soldiers had no intention of playing nice. They acted on some signal and started in on the prison guards as soon as they were in the room. Ethel had gone to talk to one of the soldiers who looked like he was in charge and we ended up getting separated from her."

Ula sighs and looks at the smoke seeping from underneath the kitchen door.

"I think Ethel might have started the fire. We got pushed back into the kitchen pretty quickly," Ula says.

"Not before we gave those bloody bastards a right thumping," Hammerdasher adds.

"But Ethel was near the other entrance - the one that goes through the guard room. The one by the stable entrance."

Vonth...

     “If we stay,” Vonth said flatly, shoulder still braced against the door, “I put armor on. I thought we hurry.”

     His eyes swept the group—too much talking, too many backward glances at things already decided.

     He shifted his weight slightly, letting them hear the pressure on the other side of the door.

     “I can open it,” he added, tone even. “If you want search for your friend.”

     No challenge. No drama.  Just a statement of fact—and a warning about the cost of hesitation.

((The 'guards' and 'dwarves' know that they can reach the other entrance to the guard room/mess hall by going down the hallway to the south/south west. You know you don't need to go back through the kitchen)).

Solomona waves cheerily to the guards emerging from the control booth, and simply says: Nah, I'm all good, thanks. I think we're leaving with them other guards to go catch Korda. You's wanna help? He then continues on to the west to see where Godrick and Korda went...

 "We go the way that isn't currently on fire.", Jan (looking like Marta) says, fitting action to words as she breaks into a jog in the direction of the connecting passage to hopefully locate Ethel.

To Jan (who looks like Marta)'s question about switching back, Marrin (who looks like Jan) side-eyes Vonth,

"I'm good for now if you are."

Then as Jan (who looks like Marta) jogs off, Marrin (who looks like Jan) thoughtfully considers Vonth and the door behind him.

"I think if you stay posted up there another minute we won't need to worry about those three soldiers popping up behind us. When the smoke gets them, please join us."

At that she starts after Jan (who looks like Marta), and waves the rest of the posse after her.

Getting the info on Korda from Vonth and seeing Solomona head that way, the shifter starts to follow after grabbing her stuff.  Hearing the name of Ethel though makes her pause.  "Ok, you guys find Ethel, we'll go trail after Korda.  If you grab her fast, come find us, if not, we'll meet at the entrance to the prison, sound good?"  she's itching to go, they can't let this dwarf get away, it's the whole reason they came in the first place.

"We'll be right behind you Ava, take care! Soren, Ithel, Geff, go on. We'll see to Ethel."

Vonth...

     Vonth narrowed his eyes, studying the stranger. She carried herself with an easy certainty— full faith in his ability to hold the door, and no concern at all for the lives of the people on the other side dying from smoke and fire.

     He weighed that.
     Then he decided.

     Approval, of a sort.

     Vonth dipped his head once and kept his shoulder set. The door stayed shut.

     It might be a foolish choice. He had made worse—and survived them.

AT THE KITCHEN DOOR:

Vonth can hear muffled shouting as well as a lot of coughing through the door and then a renewed desperate attempt to force it open. This time they soldiers on the other side seem to have coordinated their movement to give that last push (Athletics - DC 15 to keep the door closed).

The smoke scratches the back of Vonth's throat now, but it will still take some time before it's thick enough to cause him any trouble. But if he's feeling it on this side of the door, the entire kitchen must be full of it now. This is likely the last gasp effort by the soldiers.

THE KORDA HUNTERS:

The prison guards pause and listen to Solomona when he waves and explains the situation. One of the guards just raises a hand and waves back. The other says "Korda's loose? Umm. We'll, umm, we'll ahh go and get back up."

They both pop back into the surveillance hub and close the door behind them.

Avaria charges into the panopticon, spotting Solomona as he moves across the large space. She sees the surveillance hub door close.

Hammerdasher, Geffroi, and Ula follow behind, not as quick as the shifter and the monk. There's no sign of Soren following.

"We'll catch up lass," Hammerdasher shouts after Avaria.

Solomona, continuing on past the surveillance hub and down the western tunnel from the panopticon comes to an intersection. A closed door lies directly west, a passage way heads north-northeast, and another passage way heads south-southeast. Shouting and the sounds of fighting can be heard to the southeast but Solomona hears nothing from the door or the northeast.

Options, options.

THE ETHEL FINDERS:

Marrin and Jan, Marrin looking like Jan and Jan looking like a dwarven version of Marrin, head down the passage leading south-southwest.

Looking back over her shoulder, Marta-Jan sees the others head into the panopticon, except for Soren who heads up the north-northwest passage.

As the travel down the hall, the sound of fighting and shouting get louder. Rounding the corner at the bottom of the hall they see the source, at least the source of some of it, of the shouting and fighting. 

Several prison guards are in a mixed melee with several black clad soldiers.

Past them, around the corner and out of sight, they can make out the Warden's voice, shouting incoherent commands - is she shouting in dwarvish? And to both Marrin and Jan, it sounds like the rhythmic cadence of someone casting spells. 

The hallway is about 10' wide but Jan and Marrin could probably slip through the combat if they're agile enough to get past the melee directly in front of them (Dex/Acrobatics - DC 15 to avoid having to fight/shove their way through). What's around the corner is anyone's guess. 

THE PRISON:

((The source of the chanting isn't evident? Is the scrum of fighting too mixed to hit with an AoE spell?))

Marrin, looking like Jan, slides around the side of the fighting.

Acrobatics: 16 (whew)

Avaria runs her fingers through her hair as they are faced with so many options.  She reaches for the door since they are right there and attempts to open it.

If it is locked or nothing is there of note... she looks to the two other options.  "My bet is that the southeast fighting is a distraction, c'mon!" and she heads northeast unless someone convinces her otherwise.

Solomona reaches out and grabs Avaria by the arm as she starts to dash north, trying to stop her. With his other arm he points south, but neither his actions nor his voice seem urgent, but in fact rather slow and sing-song-like.

You's are looking for Korda right? If she was gonna get out by the dock, they'd have gone that way from the start. They didn't go down to where the horses are either. Nah, she and that other fullah went this way first, so maybe they's down where the fighting is, I reckon.

The big man drops Avaria's arm and then enters the outer corridor and heads south toward the fighting.

Vonth... 

Athletics - DC 15 to keep the door closed - Athletics:  11

_____

     The door shuddered again—harder this time.

     Voices blurred together behind the wood, no longer shouts so much as raw, panicked noise. Coughing. Gagging. Orders barked through smoke and fear. Whatever discipline the soldiers had once possessed was being burned out of them, replaced by the simple, animal need to escape.

     Heat bled through the iron fittings and into Vonth’s flesh. Smoke curled through the cracks and scraped his throat. The kitchen on the other side was no longer a room—it was a furnace.

He leaned into the door and felt it give.

     Just a little.

     Too much.

     One against many.
     Goliath or not.

     Vonth exhaled through his nose, slow and steady. No more waiting. No more pretending the door would hold forever.

     He mutter a brief word to Morc asking that they allow his sword arm to be true. Then his shield came up, braced tight to his shoulder. His sword slid free, edge catching the firelight leaking through the seams. If the door was going to open, it would open on his terms.

     The next shove nearly tore the hinges free.

     With a roar of splintering wood and screaming metal, the door burst inward.

     Vonth surged forward into the gap before they could spill through—shield first, slamming into the lead soldier and driving him back into those behind him. Bodies collided. 

     Vonth stepped into the threshold like a living barricade.

     Steel flashed. His sword rose and fell, not wild, not frantic—each strike meant to break, to drop, to block the way. If they wanted out, they would have to climb over their dead.  Climb over him.

     Smoke burned his lungs. Heat seared his skin. But Vonth planted his feet and fought where he stood, a wall of flesh and iron amid fire and panic.

     If he could not keep the door closed—

     Then he would be the door.

_____

"Free" Action - Throw the door open and step into the breach!

Bonus Action - Divine Favor

Action- Attack!  Longsword attack:  21 to hit for 12 slashing damage plus 2 radiant damage from Divine Favor upon the first one to try to come through the door. 

Reaction - Depends?
     If someone moves into melee with Vonth (besides the one Vonth attacked) then he would use Brace as a reaction to get an attack against them.  ((Brace - When a creature you can see moves into the reach you have with the melee weapon you’re wielding, you can use your reaction to expend one superiority die and make one attack against the creature, using that weapon. If the attack hits, add the superiority die to the weapon’s damage roll.))
     If Brace isn't used AND someone attacks and missed Vonth, then Vonth would use Riposte to get an attack on them.  ((Riposte - When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction and expend one superiority die to make a melee weapon attack against the creature. If you hit, you add the superiority die to the attack’s damage roll.))
     Reaction Attack (if appropriate) with Longsword - 24 to hit for 9 slashing damage plus 1 radiant from Divine Favor plus 3 from Superiority Die...

(Let me know if Reaction was used so I can mark off Superiority Die?)

Marta-Jan's fingers twitch at the sight of Hargrove aligned soldiers, but as Jan-Marrin moves to slip past without engaging, she follows suit. She considered changing her face, but taking on the face either guard or soldier seems likely to draw more unwelcome attention than what she is currently likely to pull.

Acrobatics: 23

AT THE KITCHEN DOOR:

The desperate soldiers, choking on thick smoke do manage to start getting the door to slide open, but they’re unprepared and greatly surprised by Vonth suddenly going from holding the door shut to helping throw it wide open. The sudden burst of violence that greets them is too much for their already weakened state. 

Vonth’s longsword cleaves through the first one’s shoulder, nearly ending his life. But where steel left the job unfinished, the radiant power of his cobbled together faith finishes the job and the soldier collapses to the floor. Dead.

The second, not realizing what was happening steps forward, and runs into the same fate. Severely weakened by smoke inhalation, the blow from the longsword brings him to his knees (Brace used).

The third stabs out with his own longsword, catching Vonth in his unshielded arm (22 to hit for 4 slashing).

But as he does, he coughs and says to Vonth “Just let me by and we can stop fighting.”

This last soldier, while injured, looks to be in about as good a shape as Vonth finds himself.

THE MEETING ROOM DOOR:

Avaria pulls open the door easily, as if pushed from the other side.

The room holds a large, rectangular table with a single chair on one long side, its back to the far wall, and two similar chairs on the side closest to Avaria. A third chair lies on the floor, knocked over somehow. The remains of some sort of meal can be seen scattered about the table, as well as two knocked over goblets. 

A gust of icy cold air blows against Avaria and out into the hallway.

Like the armory, there is a wooden ladder leading to an iron hatch in the ceiling. However, while the armory’s hatch was closed, this one stands open. A black scorch mark is all that is left of where the lock would have been. 

((Did Solomona wait to see what Avaria found before heading south? Or is Avaria following south?))

THE SOUTHERN CORRIDOR:

Marrin is pretty sure the chanting is spell casting and it definitely seems to be coming from the voice of the Warden. However, the voice was around the corner so, no, it was not immediately apparent where the Warden was or what they were doing.

Both Marrin and Jan are able to slip past the melee, with Marrin only having to stop short once to avoid being run through with an errant longsword stroke.

Getting to the intersection of corridors, both Marrin and Jan can feel the cold, icy wind of the plateau pushing against them. The southern door is wide open, one side hanging from one hinge. More soldiers and prison guards battle in the corridor, blood dripping from all of the combatants. 

Smoke wafts out of the doorway to the guardroom. Squared up in the doorway, the pair can make out the Warden, facing off into the guardroom. Three glowing darts appear at her finger tips and leap off into the room in search of targets neither Marrin or Jan can see.

Past the broken down doorway the pair can make out more soldiers and guards fighting, as well as several horses rearing up, riderless.

They catch a glimpse of Ethel, outside, passing just out of sight, moving west.

Marta-Jan points out Ethel to Jan-Marrin.

((Do we end up going past any clumps of combatants or the Warden to go to Ethel?))

((I'd say that Solomona would probably have seen what's in the room, since he tried to stop Ava just before she headed north, which would have been after opening the door, if it happens at all.))

Marrin-Jan nods on spotting Ethel and calls out a few biting remarks at soldiers as she goes, helping as she can.

She readies to move after Ethel.

Looking into the room and seeing the open hatch, Ava pushes into the room and starts to climb the ladder.  Not knowing anything about Sol, she doesn't really say anything to him.  If he asks, "We have to find Korda, that's our whole mission.  The worst possible outcome is if she leaves with the Hargroves!" Panic starts threading it's way into her voice as things start going wrong.  This was worse than letting the Hargroves get Korda and then taking the dwarf from them.  It was an absolute disaster.  

Ethel creeps in the back of her mind, she had never left a friend to find a foe and she starts wondering if she made the right decision.  But she shakes her head and hardens her resolve.  Marrin and Jan are more than capable of finding her.  

When she crests the roof and the icy wind hits her in the face and stings her eyes, she looks around for any movement.