*Insert attention-grabbing intro here!* After a hard fought battle, our weary group of adventurers decided to hold up in the newly cleaned out library and lick their wounds. During the night, 3 groups of two were on watch, one person at each door, and Jess was elected to rest the entire night. During the watch belonging to Jallarzi and Angelis, Angelis heard something in the hall. Attempting to use what little common sense the gods felt generous enough to bestow upon him, Angelis proceeded to awaken Sir Drakheim to help investigate. When the two men approached the door and listened, it appeared the sound had stopped. Drakheim, upset for having been awakened, returned to sleep; leaving Angelis alone with his paranoia. Sure, Jallarzi was on watch as well, but it seems as though herd of elephants could have rumbled through before getting her attention, and even then she certainly took her sweet time coming to find out what was going on.
       With Drakheim having gone back to sleep, Angelis waited, and seemingly without thinking decided to venture out into the halls by way of the secret door. Once out there, his rogue training kicked in. He spotted a torch coming down the hall and immediately hid. Waiting for the light to get closer, he was able to see that it was a single half-orc approaching. With little time to think, and unsure of what to do, Angelis continued to hide, reasoning that it was most likely a guard on patrol... and that if the guard were alone, he could detain the him in order to ask it some questions. While waiting for the torch bearer to come close enough, Drakheim, sensing trouble, also ventured out into the hall to see what was going on. Having seen the mighty Paladin (equally unstealthy as he is strong) come out into the hall, Angelis immediately stopped him and explained quickly and quietly the situation. For a brief moment it seemed as though their presence was noticed, as the light stopped its forward progress... but after a few tense moments it began forward again. Angelis, lying in wait, sprung out at the half-orc when he had gotten sufficiently close.
       Drawing his crossbow and pointing it at the half-orc, Angelis ordered him, "Stop!" Too bad he never stopped to think about who would win a fight between a roughed up human with a crossbow, and a half-orc with a double-headed battle-axe. The half-orc charged Angelis, and almost managed to fell our "trusty" locksmith in one blow. Lucky for Angelis, Drakheim was right around the corner to come to his aide. With a mighty swing from the Paladin, the half-orc was nearly crippled. Having realized it had met its match, the half-orc turned to run. Not the kind of guys to forgive such an attack so quickly, both Angelis with his crossbow, and Drakheim with his sword connect shots with the fleeing half-orc, allowing the cold grip of death to take its poor soul. Before falling to the ground, nearly unconscious himself, Angelis proclaimed, "I TOLD you to STOP!"
       Just at that moment, and just in time to be useless, out come Ike and Jallarzi to see what all the commotion was about. Letting the door of the secret passage close, it's a shame no one thought about what would happen when it was time to go back in! Lucky for the party, Ike was "skilled" enough to find the trigger so that the four could return to the relative safety of the library. Drakheim also took it upon himself to drag the corpse of the half-orc into the room as well. Once all were safe in the room, the Paladin, despite the requests for healing by the very hurt Angelis, woke Jess and asked her to take his shift so that he might actually get some rest.
       In the morning Drakheim healed the still hurting locksmith, apparently deciding he had suffered enough for whatever transgression he had… uh… transgressed. The old man was rather unhappy to see the corpse of the half-orc in the room with the adventures, feeling that it would be a dead giveaway as to their location... This sparked a discussion. It seems that first of all, this was probably not a bad guy, but instead a prisoner. The information just didn't add up for this to have been a guard. If it had been, why was he traveling alone? Also, why was he carrying a torch, knowing that would give him away? Besides that, he wasn't being very cautious either. The Paladin explained that first off, "he was probably an escaped prisoner or slave, which is why he was alone. He had probably grabbed a torch off the wall and was looking for a way out, quick as he could, which is why he wasn't being very cautious." Even so, Angelis raised a good point: when he first encountered the half-orc and ordered him to stop, it was the half-orc who attacked first. The Paladin explained that as well, "If this were an escape prisoner, he was probably afraid, running around alone in an unfamiliar area with the torch. When Angelis jumped out, he probably scared the poor devil, seeing as Angelis was wielding the crossbow of what was probably ones of the half-orc's captors! The poor bastard did the first thing and only thing he could do, attack." It's shame that an innocent life was taken… even if done so accidentally.
       Drakheim wasn't done yet though. He further explained that the keepers of the dungeon, without doubt, knew where we were. They had people in the library waiting for the party, which now lay slain, yet the party had not moved from that point. So then if they had not come in during the night, that most likely meant that they were lying in wait just outside in the hallway. That meant there was going to be a battle, and a tough one, the moment they stepped out. So they took a few moments to prepare themselves mentally for a battle, which not all of them might walk away from.
       Jallarzi did nothing.
       Lining up, the Old Man prepared a sleep spell to knock out anyone who might await him on the other side of the secret door. Pulling the release, he stepped through and was greeted with a lightning bolt… Lucky for him, he was able to dodge out of the way and escape any serious harm. Next through the door was Ike, who immediately engaged the caster. Angelis had a bright idea; he pulled the trigger for the secret door, and then wedged the axe from the deceased half-orc in it so that it could not close. This allowed the rest of the party to not only get out quicker, but would allow them to fall back in a hurry, without fumbling for the switch, if the need arose.
       Jallarzi did nothing.
       Good thing the Old Man had that sleep spell ready, there were two more coming up from behind, but they were out like a light once that sleeping spell went off. Angelis made sure they wouldn't be waking up any time soon, slitting their throats to kill them.
       Jallarzi did nothing.
       Looking down the hall, seeing that in this ten foot wide corridor there was Ike, Drakheim, Jess, and Zarp all fighting 3 enemies, Angelis decided to hang back and watch the action... and action there was! First, as Ike and Drakheim slugged it out toe to toe with the foes, and just as the first was about ready to go down, here comes none other than Jess dancing her way over to make the death blow, then dancing back out she goes. Needless to say, this did not make the fighters happy, but Drakheim, always the trooper, stepped up to the next one in line… Zarp, tired of just watching all the action, decided to do his impression of a spider and take to the walls and ceiling to make it up and around behind these guys. Would have worked too, if the Paladin, in the close quarters, hadn't accidentally smacked Zarp on his way up and over. The two bad guys continued to focus mainly on Ike and Drakheim. Much to Zarps chagrin, even after several ball punches by the little guy, they still weren't paying attention to him, and so he decided to look elsewhere. However, the two amazingly enough were just too powerful for both Drakheim and Ike, and in what was one of the most heart-stopping moments of the night, Drakheim went down....
       Jallarzi did nothing.
       The others, seeing the Paladin going down, start to get serious. The Old Man steps up and lets off a bolt from his crossbow, nailing the first human, and the one responsible for taking down the Paladin, dead in the chest… and that's exactly what he was too… DEAD! The victory is short lived however as Angelis is heard calling "Lil' Help Here!" as a bolt blindly flies down the hall at him and catches him in the arm. The Old Man heads down the hall to help Angelis, but as he turns away Ike too, goes down. Things are looking grim for our adventurers… as the Banite calls out "TWO!" in mock of the rivalry between the Paladin and Ike. The end was near, or so it seemed… the last human was close to death already from his battle with Ike, but one quick shot from the Old Man's crossbow, and down he went.
       Jallarzi did something... no, this is not a misprint, she actually went out and tried to drag the Paladin back to safety. Not only that, she even healed him and Ike enough that they were up and around again.
       That only left those who had shot the bolt down the hall at Angelis. The old man moved quickly, picking up a torch and then tossing it down the hall to try and illuminate whomever it was shooting at them. However, he throws like a girl… actually, no, he just throws like an old man. It hit the ceiling and bounced down to come to rest only 15 feet from the corner. That left it up to Angelis to do the job right, not a good idea. Angelis grabs one of the corpses whose throats he had slit not long ago and, using it as a shield, made his way down the hall to the torch. Overwhelmed by this success, he grabbed the torch and ran back to the corner, like a dog with a newspaper… not thinking to toss it from where he stood. Once to the safety of the corner, he too hauled off and threw it… sadly, it came to rest not far from where it had before. This time however it didn't matter, as it seemed the bad guys took the opportunity simply to move up. By the time the two noticed the pair of crossbow baddies, it was too late. Each the Old Man and Angelis let loose shots, but this only inspired the bad guys to charge them, in hopes of being able to take them in hand to hand. No such luck. The Old Man, quickly dispatched his, and Angelis uses a shot from his crossbow to split the head of his bad guy, like an axe to firewood.
       All the bad guys lying dead at the feet of our adventurers and many of themselves hurt, leads them to made the decision to find a room where they could hold up for a while and recover, but not before a little tiff broke out between the locksmith and the mini-mage. The mini-mage was extremely unhappy about the axe in the door, feeling it was a desecration of the dead man, and after showing that displeasure was given "the bird" by Angelis. With a sudden change of attitude, Zarp extends his had in "friendship" to Angelis, who ignores it and refuses to take it, realizing that this little one is a magic user, and two, that no one has a change of heart that quick. Seems Angelis was right, fore after ignoring Zarp's hand the little man lunged for him… however, the locksmith was able to get out of the way. The little skirmish was put to an end when the Paladin comes over and smacks Zarp a good one in the kisser. Angelis, quickly comes to the aide of Zarp, telling the Paladin not to be so rough, that it was only a disagreement... to which the Paladin responds, "SHUT UP!" When the Paladin says it, you do it. It was the longest bit of silence yet perpetrated by the locksmith.
       Unable to find a safe route back to the usual hideout, not to mention bruised and beaten, the band of adventures returned to the gaming room to rest up, and get their strength back… Angelis resets the firetrap on the door, and one guard stands watch per night. This is where we leave off this week, be sure to check back in next week for yet another updated!

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