Ambush

The group had heard the footsteps approaching nearly as clear as day, and knowing that they were running low on options to explain themselves with, quickly came up with a plan for how to move forward. Dei volunteered herself to act as the bait, standing in clear view of the door from which the footsteps had been coming, stealing the attention of anyone who might have come through it. The rest of them waited around the nearby corner, though it was Elric who was in the front of this hiding crew, prepared strike once that guard has, in fact, become distracted.

Fortunately the guards had no idea how many people had entered the tower - only that someone had - and so the distraction plan worked smoothly. Elric waited for half a moment as the guard emerged, ring of jangling keys on his belt, to ensure that he stepped away from the door and that no others were coming from behind him as well. Satisfied, Elric stepped out from behind the corner, his spear held backwards in order to deal nonlethal damage.

He swing the spear horizontally into the guard's spine like it was a baseball bat, striking just above the waistline in the square of his back, making a solid cracking sound as it made contact. The guard staggered, a shiver running through his body, and attempted to turn around and face his attacker, but Elric saw this and knew he had more work to do. As he drew the spear back, one hand lifted from its shaft, swinging in a knifehand strike at the back of the man's neck. The strike was solid, hitting the spine once more as the guard was beginning to turn.

The combination of the two strikes landing solidly on the spine in separate locations created too much of a shock to the guard's system for him to handle. For a brief moment he stood in place, his body quivering, trying to hold itself together - in the next instant he was falling, right into the arms of Safia who was already waiting.

The warlock caught the man's body and deftly removed the keys from his belt before setting him down on the ground as Dei hurried over to begin tying him up before he regained consciousness. The group was still standing in front of the three cages which trapped three of the dungeon's prisoners, and now that they had the keys to the cages, they would be damned if they were going to leave them in place.