DCC DotSK: Act 1-3

Aldric is feeling especially invigorated by the danger of the moment!

ROUND 2 BEGINS
Init Order: Anora, Aldric, Dolsten, Dufgal, The Hound, Morgan, Ty, Broegan
Hound: Blind for rounds 2-4.

Anora continues on running, trusting in the good senses of the people of Hirot and the powerful magic of the elf to carry the day.

She makes for the door, clutching Ty by the arm as she passes him by.

"It’s no time to marvel at your own work!" she barbs low so as not to give the beast a vector, before trying to carry the elf along with her and inside the bastion.

To say Ty goes willingly is something of an understatement, and soon enough he and Anora are back inside the Wolf-Spear, back into the warmth and light of the spacious common room. Morgan and her father race for that same door, and only Dufgal remains outside beyond those two...

Dufgal cares nothing for heroics, so the moment he sees that Anora and the elf were safe, he hustled hisself into the Wolf Spear. He makes a quick assessment of the available mobile furniture to barricade the door once the last of the innocents were safe.

Once everyone is inside the door, Aldric bars it shut with his oar. He beseaches Pelagia for her strength as he places a seal upon the oar. As he prays, the miracle begins to unfold - barnacles begin to grow and encrust every surface, and seaweed wraps around it, binding the woods tightly.

With everyone retreating back inside the building as the blind Hound flails and screeches into the night, snapping at the air with its terrible fangs, swiping at sounds and scents with its razor-claws, Morgan Haverson darts into the inn, last of everyone to get inside... save her father.

"Run, da! Run!" she shouts, desperately hoping he can make it.

Broegan has had a longer way to go, and feels a rush of relief when he sees Morgan slip into the Wolf-Spear... but then he sees just how close to the building the demon-twisted Hound is... and releases he will have to run the gauntlet to make it to safety.

Gripping his axe tightly, determined, he runs!

Broegan sees that the thing senses him, by smell or sound or some unearthly sight, and he ducks the creature's vile jaws at the last second, then sprints for the open door! He shouts in pain as he crosses the threshold and spills forward into the room, stumbling and falling onto the ground heavily. Blood sprays and spurts, and everyone sees that his clothes and the flesh on his back have been turned to ribbons by a slash from the Hound's talons. A single swipe parted cloth and skin and muscle just before its prey escaped -- and then the door is slammed shut and locked. Aldric's emphatic blessing reinforces the thing further, and when the Hound slams against it, howling, the heavy, iron-bound wood does not budge!

"Father!" Morgan screams, falling to the wounded man's side, holding her face in her hands when she sees how deep his wounds are. Blood wells in those long, raked lines, and the innkeeper does not answer, for he is unconscious or already dead.

ROUND 3 BEGINS
Init Order: TBD, The Hound
Hound: Blind for rounds 3-4.

In awe of Aldric’s power play, Dufgal feels the tides have turned. For Pelagia’s influence in this landlocked region, for the fight against the hound, and on his chances of earning a living on the road with this brave and lucky lot he fell in with. He remains ready, just in case.

Looking around the room, he quickly starts shoving a large table up against the door to reinforce the cleric’s magic. He is sure to shrug indicating the likely uselessness of the extra effort. He wants to let Aldric know that he is impressed.

ROUND 3
Init Order: Dufgal, Aldric, Dolsten, Anora, Ty, Morgan, The Hound
Hound: Blind for rounds 3-4.

Seeing Morgan swoop down next to her motionless father, who is sprawled out on the now bloody floor, Dolsten shouts as he moves to help Dufgal reinforce the door.

"Bind his wounds, girl!" he shouts desperately. "Bind them!"

Aldric, jaw agape, is amazed that his spell actually worked. Pelagia must sense his good work. Things are taking a turn for the better!

So deep was he in performing his miracle that Broegan pained cries only reach his ears now. He sees him, collapsed in a growing pool of his own blood, his back raked by Shul's bitch. Eager to undo Shul's effect on this world, he sidles up to the wounded man and his buxom daughter, his travel-worn robes flowing around his squeaking armour.

His voice is strong and confident. "Pelagia's miracles are not yet done here! Woman, fetch clean rags and water!"

He leans down and lays his hands on the man's back, in the hot, spurting blood. He lets it seep and pool around his fingers until his hands are red, and then he lets Pelagia's gift flow through him.

Breaths are held as the seconds pass inside the fortified building -- as Morgan desperately runs for rags and water, as Aldric calls on his goddess for aid, and as the beast outside the door howls and tremors and claws at the wood. Then, as the tang of salt water fills the air and Broegan's wounds begin to seal, the sounds beyond the threshold stop, leaving an eeriness inside the Wolf-Spear as everyone sees the innkeeper on the floor suddenly take a deep, steady breath.

"Da!" Morgan cries, stroking his head as tears come to her eyes. Then the girl is hanging off Aldric, hugging him fiercely.

"Thank you!"

Dolsten approaches the door quietly, carefully, and listens at it.

"I think..." he begins carefully, "I think it's gone?"

"Just don’t stand too closely!" Anora warns, keeping only one eye on the man. In truth, and despite the healing power performed, she doubted much of the cleric’s magic ever since his sorry display in this very room a while earlier.

She’s tempted to have the others bind her in the ropes that had held Broegan earlier, to stop her from any more ventures out into the night!

She slumps, and lets her hair fall loose once more. She rolls the ball of her palm into her thigh, massaging the tired legs beneath her robe.

"Thats enough excitement for one night, I think." she says, with a weary sigh. It had been a close thing, but overall it was a good that they had done!

I’se glad to hear you say that, Miss Anora. You’se been givin’ us the fright. You’se an important person and we’se s’posed to keep you safe.

"Quite enough excitement," Ty concurs. He rubs the bottom of his face, then exhales through the cup of his fingers. Humans.

"We're all done outside, then?" Blindfolded as he is, the elf nonetheless fixes Morgan with a cloth-wrapped stare. "No further jaunts into shadow and fang?" Ty turns his head towards Anora and-- presumably-- eyes her as well.

"Good." With any luck, most of the people of Hirot missed his little light show in the square. Perhaps even Morgan and Broegan were too distracted to pay it much mind. "I'm going to bed."

So saying, Tyravasiel-Llir sets his cane to the boards and tap-totters his way in the direction of the bed he stole earlier.