1.3 - The Wyr River: Deeper Darkness

(I give the 1xp for the intrusion to Vult, for not leaping to interfere with my impulsive plan.)

Tara sprints over to get into immediate range of the commander.

Khoren, finding himself weaponless, leaps at the commander and begins punching him in the sides as hard as he can, hoping to find a soft spot or at least bruise him through the armor.
(Dual Wield Light Weapons - punches also seem to count as light weapons - with effort for damage. But I'm not sure if effort counts for the whole action (the two attacks are a single action), or just one attack in that action.)

Blinded by the light Yui knows is the commander's head (OOC: the human torch!) she heads toward it. Khoren beats her to jumping on the commander as she would have done, so she instead grabs two rocks and starts smashing them as hard as she can into the bright light that is the commander's head. Hopefully this will make it up to you Khoren.

(OOC Edit: I'm just using rocks from now on)

(Ooc: when Darazen attacked he applied effort to damage. Do I get the added damage, or do I get my effort back?)

Darazen feels the Commander attack his mind. ***you bastard*** he thinks as he pushes back to repel the attack.

Then he attacks back with mental onslaught.

(Ooc: Re roll intellect defense)

"Damn it!" Vult exclaims as Birtwood rushes the commander with his spear. Dropping his bow, he rushes to Birtwood's side, drawing his short poleaxe as he does so.

(OOC: action for movement and drawing a weapon.)

"There's no kill like overkill." Vult says with a grim tone, putting away his axe and searching the body for useful items or clues. He'll recover his bow when he has a moment

Khoren quickly retrieves his weapons, eyeing the sword briefly before discarding it. The two punch daggers return to their belt sheathes, and one of the other two daggers disappears under his cloak. The second dagger spends some time jammed through the commander's eye as far as he can push it, before being withdrawn. His hand runs over the blade and the hair and blood fall off. His gestures encompass Birtwood and his spear-branch as well, removing the gore.

He then stumbles a step toward Utazo, breathing heavily. "Did you find a place for us to rest through the portal?"

As the combat ends, and the Commander slumps to the ground lifeless, Darazen stands motionless, head bowed, breathing heavily. His usual confident air, perhaps arrogance, seems to have waned; he somehow seems broken and exhausted.

Slowly raising his head he says, "I'm sorry, it... it seems I've made a mistake. I was only trying to help, but it seems I'm not as strong as I thought I was... these foes seem to be able to manipulate my powers."

He moves gingerly to the edge of the cavern, and slumps to the ground, back against the wall, knees clutched tight against his chest, head down... rocking gently. "I... I need to rest. I feel so tired..." He looks up. "I don't understand what's happening... I am too trusting. I believed the Commander, but he was manipulating me. I think I've alerted to Queen to our plans... She, she... knows we are coming... I am sorry."

His head bows again.

"Pardon me, but am I the only one who thinks resting on the other side of a portal we know nothing about and that they could easily close behind us is a bad idea?" Tara looks at them incongruously. "Don't get me wrong, I'm all for resting, but the stolen items are on THIS side of the portal still.. as is the Assassins Heart. If we go through that portal, we're giving them the ultimate advantage." She looks at everyone in turn "We're not that far in, we can blow this portal, escort Birtwood outside to safety and freedom and rest outside, taking some shifts to make sure we all get rest.. and then we can go back inside when we're ready. If Birtwood wishes to come back in here with us that's fantastic, but I'd certainly understand if he wanted to get home to his friends and family after this traumatic experience.."

Darazen closes his eyes and tries to rest.

"Assuming that the commander was lying about the portal's defenses, I'm perfectly willing to sabotage the portal." Vult mentions as he returns the weapons he found on the commander to their respective owners.

"The commander seems to have some cybernetics, though they're unpowered. Maybe there's something we can use to start them back up and learn more about how this 'queen' operates." Vult says as he looks around.

Before he starts his work, he'll turn to Birtwood and ask, "Are you ok?"