Against the Cult: Meet Me at the Bar Fight (1.9)

Brawl in the Golden Grain Inn, Round four
(this was preceded by round three)

Gagging on his own blood, Reptile struggles to retain consciousness. The struggle is brief, and lost.
Reptile has died.
Having just thrown open the door, Aanbo steps through from the den, Chase right behind him. Myrtha and Theran are probably relieved to see their fellow Dungeon Busters rather than more enemies.



Aanbo crosses the room in a flash, coming up behind Myrtha's assailant (called "H.A." because no one in the party has yet learned his name), kicks him in the back of the leg, following up with a series of punches to the back of the neck and head. H.A. takes 10 damage. It is a beautifully-executed takedown...

...except that H.A. doesn't quite fall. He staggers, and whirls to get Aanbo in his field of view, too. "The dwarf!" he yells in surprise. "I've heard about you!" Then his eyes widen, as he continues parrying Myrtha's sword blows. "If you're here, what happened to Gerd?!?"

Whatever Derek is doing upstairs, the party cannot see or hear it.



Chase runs up behind Aanbo as H.A. is turning to face them and slams his spear into the man's abdomen. From the angle, it probably hits his kidneys more than his gut; H.A. takes 9 bludgeoning damage and falls to the floor with a groan.

---

22 - Reptile (0/15) Dead
16 - Aanbo (16/19)
15 - Derek Gone upstairs
14 - Chase (8/11)
10 - Bertram Dead
9 - Myrtha (6/12)
5 - H.A. (-35) Down
1 - Theran (13/13)

Round four, continued

Aanbo crosses the room in a flash, coming up behind Myrtha's assailant (called "H.A." because no one in the party has yet learned his name), kicks him in the back of the leg, following up with a series of punches to the back of the neck and head. H.A. takes 10 damage. It is a beautifully-executed takedown...

...except that H.A. doesn't quite fall. He staggers, and whirls to get Aanbo in his field of view, too. "The dwarf!" he yells in surprise. "I've heard about you!" Then his eyes widen, as he continues parrying Myrtha's sword blows. "If you're here, what happened to Gerd?!?"

Whatever Derek is doing upstairs, the party cannot see or hear it.

---

22 - Reptile (0/15) Dead
16 - Aanbo (16/19)
15 - Derek Gone upstairs
14 - Chase (8/11)
10 - Bertram Dead
9 - Myrtha (6/12)
5 - H.A. (-26)
1 - Theran (13/13)

Round four, continued...

Chase runs up behind Aanbo as H.A. is turning to face them and slams his spear into the man's abdomen. From the angle, it probably hits his kidneys more than his gut; H.A. takes 9 bludgeoning damage and falls to the floor with a groan.The four Dungeon Busters are not facing an immediate threat at the moment; what do you do now?

---

22 - Reptile (0/15) Dead
16 - Aanbo (16/19)
15 - Derek Gone upstairs
14 - Chase (8/11)
10 - Bertram Dead
9 - Myrtha (6/12)
5 - H.A. (-35) Down
1 - Theran (13/13)

Myrtha uses 10' of rope and binds the unconscious, battered, bloody-but-not-quite-dead thug, H.A. Disappointingly, he does not have any obviously interesting belongings: stained leather armor, his club, worn boots. On the floor (having been knocked to the floor in the brawl) is his heavy crossbow, which still appears to be in working condition. A quick glance around the room reveals that a quiver with a dozen bolts is leaning up against the wall by the front door. Presumably H.A. had set the quiver down by the door when he came in.

As for Bertram's corpse, it wears his rumpled, faded but once-fine clothing and leather shoes. His apron hangs on a hook behind the bar, and the dagger fell from his hand to the floor when Myrtha chopped him down.

Either these guys haven't been robbing people, or they have, but have stashed the loot somewhere else. Then again, it's the middle of the night; they seemed to be having a planning session, and probably didn't grab their valuables for that.

While she's tying him up, Chase drags Bertram's corpse behind the bar. Theran is impatient to head upstairs to find the torturer who stabbed Reptile and whose previous victim was used to frame the party. Aanbo follows, but as she finishes tying the brute, Myrtha hurries after them, trying to get in the lead so as to protect the others with her shield. Chase checks the knots and is satisfied that H.A. won't be going anywhere anytime soon (if he even wakes again), then he hurries upstairs after the others.

The Inn is silent; apparently no alarm has been raised. Either that, or the upstairs is full of enemies lying in wait for the Dungeon Busters.

The hallway upstairs is narrow, so that the party can move single-file. In what order do you want the characters to proceed?