Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh

Seri's Athletics check to climb up to the attic (prior to her attack):  21

Turn order;  4 Esme Darixa 3 Brynn 1 Seri Cook.  
current map.  

Three stirge left.  Cook’s turn

Earlier...

So when Cook turned back forward to warn the group to keep an eye out on the runner, they'd finally respond, but not without wiggling and running their fingers up his back first. "The centipedes many, many, creepy little feet." They'd almost whisper.

        Cook most definitely shivers at that, a sharp involuntary twitch running through him as he hurriedly side-steps away.

     “Ah! Be off with ya—” he blurts, swatting lightly at Brynn’s arm in an attempt to get her to stop. For a brief instant genuine annoyance flashes across his face. Then it’s gone, replaced almost immediately by a crooked, bemused smile he’s clearly trying—and failing—not to show too openly.

     He grumbles something under his breath about people creeping out honest folk, but there’s no real heat in it.

_____

Now...

     Cook strains to see what’s happening above without actually getting anywhere near the attic opening again. He leans this way and that from below, squinting upward suspiciously while pointedly keeping both feet planted a safe distance from the hole in the ceiling.

     From above comes a sudden flurry of movement—quick footsteps, scrambling, sharp noises overhead. Cook’s stomach tightens.  Something’s happening up there.  And whether he likes it or not, the thought of the girls facing some attic-haunting ghost while he cowers below doesn’t sit right with him.  Even if the thought of himself facing the thing sits worse.

     “Feck…” he mutters under his breath.

     With obvious reluctance, Cook places one boot on the first stair and starts climbing again.  Immediately something comes hurtling down at him from above.

     Cook yelps and lashes out instinctively, taking a frantic swipe at the descending shape.  “Back, ya spooky wee bastard!”

     For one terrible moment he has no idea what it is.  The ghost girl?  A ghost bat?  Something worse?

     His balance wobbles dangerously as he teeters on the stair, arms pinwheeling slightly while he tries very hard not to fall on his butt a second time.

_____

Seri's raptor familiar doesn't actually provoke opportunity attacks so I'm not actually rolling to hit...
I am rolling a dex save to see if Cook does fall back on his butt again or not - 19.  Ok, I guess he's saved from that indignity...

_____

     Cook pinwheels wildly and may or may not let out a tiny squeak of despair in the process. (Accounts vary considerably on that point.)  Either way, he somehow manages to keep himself upright by slamming both hands against the sides of the stairwell and catching himself before gravity can claim him a second time.

     For a moment he just hangs there, breathing hard and staring about with wide eyes. Then he spots the feathered raptor.

     Cook swallows.

     “Aye,” he mutters darkly, glaring at the creature. “Knew I hated that thing the moment I laid eyes on it…”  This latest incident does absolutely nothing to improve his opinion.

     Darixa had mentioned ghost bats. Brynn had said something about sap suckers.  Cook’s mind veers wildly from one possibility to the next, each somehow worse than the last.

     “You all alright up there?” he finally calls upward in a rough grumble.

     He’s technically on the stairs now - one foot on the first step, the other on the second - but he has not yet committed himself to actually climbing any farther.

     Nobody’s screamed for help yet so…

_____

Cook will hold his action of rushing up into the attic for if and when he hears one of the girls actually call for help or make some noise that definitely sounds like he is needed...

Stirge #4 swoops in at Esme lured by the scent of fresh blood, however distracted as it is by Seri’s fluid arrival and waving around a skewered stirge it flutters its wings missing its mark.

Esme’s turn

In her panic over being covered in blood and having the last life sucked out of her, Esme fails in her attempt to blast any of the vicious creatures off her...

(Used the heroic inspiration to no avail, she just wants to go home now.)

Esmeralda releases an eldritch blast which sizzles past a bobbling stirge.

Darixa’s turn

"Damn Cook, I don't know what kind of bats! They're real and there's blood all over Esme!" Darixa shouts down in response to his questions. With one of the creatures in close, she draws her daggers. She attempts a strike with each of them. (At #3)
(Dagger Attack: 23, Damage: 7 piercing) 
(Dagger Attack: 15, Damage: 1 piercing)

(OOC - If the first attack kills #3, she would then move beside Seri for the second attack against #4.)