Seing Karok begin a charge with his sword, the man lunges at the dwarf, pulling two knives from his vest as he does so.

Karok's blade is sidestepped.

"Not yourrr--", the man's blade skims along the dwarf's ribs(-2), cutting a long gash. His sentence is never completed as Jhaelin's mace slams into the man's shoulder. His sentence ends with a heavy grunt.

Brett completes his protective armor spell.

"Portho! Arami!" the man hisses, recovering from the blow of the mace.

Seeing the danger their partner is in, the two shove the other man hard against the wall of a building, knocking him down then rushes into the fight with drawn daggers.

Begin combat round 1830.12

Known Magic in play:
Brett (Armor) 9 points, AC6

"Good one," Karok called to Jhaelin. "Finish him off! I'll take these two."

He stepped forward and did a riposte/slash at the two oncoming thugs.

(to hit: 2)

Jhaelin flanks his target, not letting the man get behind him and also, so that Jhaelin could see what was going on with Karok. He just hoped the dwarf was wise enough not to kill them. He realizes with some consternation that he didn't known enough about Karok's temperament.

Lord... your Will be done, he silently prays.

With another lunge with mace, Jhaelin attacks.

Init2, hits AC3, 5 damage

The wide-eyed man who was pushed to the ground shuffles to his feet unsteadily and runs off down the alley into the darkness.

Brett seems indecisive and rooted to the spot as he sees the sudden attack escalate to weapons and violence.

The man hit by Jhaelin spins and attacks but his swing is wild, perhaps affected by the injury to his shoulder. The clumsy attack ends with his dagger being knocked from his grip by inadvertently hitting Jhaelin's mace. Then, with a quick return attack, Jhaelin punches the thug hard in the chest with the head of his mace. The man's breath is involuntarily expelled violently and he drops to the ground in a heap trying desperately to breathe.

Two thugs quickly meet Karok's advance and dart in with dagger attacks. They mean business but find no quarter. Fortunately for Karok, their blades do not penetrate the dwarf's leather armor this time. With the flurry of two attackers around him, Karok loses his concentration and timing momentarily. His attack with the sword slices through nothing but air. Against two attackers, he will have to do better.

Seeing their friend put to the ground and being outnumbered, the two thugs turn to flee down the alley.

Karok may either give chase, or get a free attack on one of the fleeing thugs. Jhaelin and Brett are not within melee range for a free attack unless ranged (magic or otherwise).

Begin round 1830.18

Magic in play...
Brett (Armor) 9 points, AC6

As the two remaining thugs turned to flee, Karok stepped forward, pivoted, and slashed into one of his erstwhile attackers with his blade.

"Hah!" he roared. "Finally got the range!"

Though his muscles twitched with the desire to run the last of the attackers down, the dwarf forced himself to pause. He had just been cautioning the others not to run around in this town alone. It made one vulnerable. How would it look if he did not heed his own advice?

Instead, he scanned around to see if the kidnappers' victim was still present.

Brett watches it all. He isn't about to get into this fight, yet, but if things were to turn ugly, he would move in to put his staff to play.

Karok's sword bites through normal clothing and flesh and bone deep enough to knick a major artery. The man goes down face first in the dirt of the alley. He tries to get a up a couple of times before collapsing in death. Dark blood pools beneath him.

The man Jhaelin hit stops breathing and stares with a blank look to the dark star lit sky.

The third man continues off into the darkness. His footfalls can be heard for a few seconds before fading away. Somewhere, several buildings away a cat screeches in the night.

End of Combat rounds

Jhaelin kneels next to the man on the road looking for any signs of life. He finds none.

"Grummsh's Teeth!! He's dead!" he says, looking up at the other two.

"I've never killed a man before. Oh my gods. What do we do?"

Jhaelin seems a little panicked.

Brett stares at Jhaelin noticing his strikened looks. He walks over to him and clasps the man's shoulder in concern.

"Hey, don't worry about it. It's better him than you, don't you think. But if it bothers you so much maybe, yes, let us say a prayer over the body so the spirit can at least find peace in the afterlife." He said making the last part of the sentence a question.

He didn't like the look of 'pain' on Jhaelin's face and only wants to help him get past it.

Karok refrained from searching the bodies... yet.

"We didn't have a lot of choice, lad," he observed. "These men were draggin' somebody away into the darkness. We could have let them do it, but we didn't. So, then, they tried to kill us." He spread massive hands, as he explained, "Self defense. The only alternatives would have been to allow a criminal action, and maybe our own deaths."

"Sad thing, though, I'll allow."

He let a moment go by. "We'll have to report this to the Watch, I suppose. That'll probably complicate things. It would help if the man we saved will turn up to vouch for us, but..." another shrug.

He looked over to Brett. "You might be alright. You weren't actually in the fight. You might help us just by testifying honestly to what you saw."

Brett stared at Karok. Testify?

"Testify," he asked aloud and in question.

This isn't good, he figures. What could they want that would merit his testifying what happened here?

"But...", he choked. It was all he could get out around the suddenly dry throat.

"The truth will bear us out," Karok said. "But the Watch is likely to ask some questions. It'll be better for us if we just tell them what happened, than if we try to cover it up, and keep it secret."

He turned to Jhaelin. "We did the right thing, and I'm proud of it. But we don't even know who these men are. That might be the complicated part."

"I know it FEELS like we did the right thing. I feel it. But--" Jhaelin looks up the dead guy to Karok, "--what if they were the Watch?"

"Then they should have let us know that's who they were," Karok maintained. "Instead of sayin', 'not your business, friends,' they should have said, 'we're the Watch,' and showed us a badge or ribbon or somethin' as they dragged their prisoner away to the lock-up."

"And the fellow they grabbed wouldn't be sayin' 'help me, please,' either, the way I figure it."

"Nay, if they were the watch, I'm a ring-tailed Drow."

"The wisdom of your longer lived race shows Karok. You're right," Jhaelin conceded. He stands and regards the two dead thugs. Who were they? Who did they work for? What had the man done wrong? These, and more questions tumbled through his mind.

"Tempted as I am to look for clues on their body, I think perhaps we should just leave them alone and let the Watch or sheriff deal with them."

As if on cue, heavy booted footfalls can be heard from the south, along with the unmistakable jingle of weaponry and chain mail. As the three of you look in that direction, a tall, broad shouldered man rounds the corner of the building adjacent to the other road with a torch in one hand and a readied crossbow in the other. A large ax is strapped to his back. He wears chain mail armor with a cloak.

"I'm Constable Deldrin. Sheriff here in the Hollow. Looks like you be the trouble I'm lookin for."

The man stays back a ways, regarding the three of you carefully and slowly raises the crossbow upon seeing the sword in the dwarf's hands and a mace in one of the other's.

"Mind stating your business here and how these two met their end?"

"A little earlier, we were consulting with Laurel-- you know the herbalist--" Karok began as he, apparently unconcerned, wiped off his sword on the cloak of the man he had slain, and scabbarded it, then slipped his shield around to the back of his shoulder. "Her brother, here," he cocked his head at Jhaelin, "recruited us to help deal with the Blackscour problem you got hereabouts. You know, gathering herbs and moss to make cures and suchlike."

"Well, we finished the consultation and thought we'd meet some friends of ours who were stopping at the Church of Iomenaday-- sorry if I got that wrong; you know the one. Anyway, Jhaelin, here-- I guess you know him as Bhoener around here-- was showing us a quicker way of going."

"But, as we passed through this way, we saw three men dragging off another fellow by force. He called to us for help, and the other three threatened us. So we were approaching to investigate when they drew daggers and came at us. The fellow we saved got away and ran for it when all three of them engaged us."

"We got two of them, as you see. They, also, got a little bit of me," the dwarf finished as he showed the blood of his recent wound by torchlight.

"We were just wonderin' how to find the Town Watch."

"Town watch," Deldrin repeats, lowering his crossbow to his side but leaving it cocked for the moment.

"Aint no town watch here but me and a few good people what keeps an eye out for trouble. A few of us are struggling to organize this town and bring law and order here, but its a ways off yet."

"I know that one," Deldrin says, pointing to the man in the road. "Been stirring trouble for months n' been seen hangin' 'round the Rouge Lady tavern and inn."

The man moves closer and holds his torch a little higher and to the side, positioning the light the way he wants it to land while looking at Jhaelin.

"So Bhoener has returned home. Last I seen yeh lad, yeh was coolin' ya heels in my cell. Rantin' and ravin' mad 'bout sometin' n' spoutin' how yhe would show her. Show her real good and become a true healer. Aint seen yeh 'bout since I sent yeh up to the magistrate Vamros."

"They say... 'Once a troublemaker, always a troublemaker'. It's in the blood laddie."

Without awaiting any replies, and cutting off any that might be forthcoming, the man continues, "Well, I think yeh word's good on what happened here sir dwarf. Yeh all killed em, so's yeh gonna help clean it up. Help meh drag these two over ta the grave digger."

Karok flipped his victim over with a foot and the picked him up under the arms and began to drag him.

It didn't sound as if he was breathing heavily as he said, "So it sounds like neither of these men is supporting a wife and children, then? Would be happy to hear it-- for the wife and childrens' sake."

"You'll pardon my asking, I hope, but I come from a ways off. When we slay an enemy in battle, we get booty privileges. Would there be anything in your law against me helping myself to the dagger that stuck me?"

"You two grab that one." the constable says to Jhaelin and Brett, pointing to the bloodied body near the alley.

Deldrin then grabs the legs of the one Karok is dragging and helps to move it along up the street. A couple of people watch curiously as the four of them proceed up the street and out the northern gate of the village. The cemetery is located just outside the gates toward the river. Several fresh graves can be seen in the star light and a small shack sits nearby close to the town's wall. Soft light comes from an open doorway.

A balding, thin fellow with a crooked nose steps from the shack on hearing the noise outside.

"Two more today sheriff?" the man asks. "That taint seems ta be a gettin' worse."

"NO Xeph... these 'ere fellas got the wrong end of a sour deal."

"Master dwarf, to answer your question. You may take anything these two have on them of worth to you. They can't use 'em where they gone and the fight was fair. The bloodied one I don't know, but this'un has a kid 'n a missus. I'll be lettin' them know his demise."

Karok looked to the others. "Don't know about you, but I'd feel better if all the money these two have, and anything we don't need, goes on to the widow. This wasn't her fault, and she may be hard up."

He took the one man's dagger and put it away, as he was speaking.

Jhaelin gives Karok and genuine, heart-felt smile. This dwarf is full of surprises, he thinks. He nods his agreement.

"Absolutely. And let me treat that wound."

Jhaelin approaches Karok and offers a prayer for healing upon him. The Will of Heironeous flows through his instrument and into the dwarf, where the wound begins to glow a soft amber. Soon, no sign of injury is left.

"His Will be done." the acolyte says, smiling.

"I'll get they stuff to the widow" the man called Xeph says. He then beckons the sheriff to the side to speak in lower tones. After a moment, the two of them walk off into the cemetery to what looks like two freshly dug holes for coffins.

Curiosity being what it is... the companions walk up on an interesting scene. Graves. Not new graves, but graves which appear to have been dug into. The coffins are there, but empty.

"Two days ago I buried them." the man called Xeph is saying.

Upon investigation, the graves are found to be emptied of a cadaver. Speculation about zombies rising from the graves are put to rest by Jhaelin, who notes the digging into the grave, not from within it. Someone, or something, wanted these bodies for a purpose.

Sheriff Deldrin asks the companions to keep this news quiet for obvious reasons, then excuses himself to perform some unpleasant business.

Brett helps Jhaelin with the corpse in silence. He didn't like the way his thoughts were going about what happened. But it seems that Karok had everything well in hand.

With the corpses' taken care of, he would glance at the graves. Now that was real strange, who would have taken the bodies? He thought.

"Well, I guess we should be returning to the Jak-a-napes." Was all he said as he turns off leaving said graveyard with a feeling of relief. He didn't like that, being in there at all.

The companions make their way back to Jak-a-napes.