Tonight's episode continued with the battle between the adventurers and Drystan Cornog's Gang. When we left the last episode, Tados - having revived Naivara - fell to an attack from one of Drystan's members. Laying unconscious as the battle enfolded him, Tados fell one step closer to death as he failed his first death saving roll. Naivara, being brought back from the brink of death and having healed herself somewhat, let loose a fire bolt at Phil who was bearing down on her; however, he saw the attack coming and managed to duck out of the way, the bolt of fire hissing off into the distance behind him. Drystan's turn came next, and having been alerted to Jett by the Elf Rogues failed attempt to sneak jump down upon Drystan, turn his vicious sword and battleaxe upon the Elf. Jett managed to block the battleaxe but was not quick enough for Drystan's follow-up attack with the sword taking substantial damage. Lue, the Sorceress alligned with Drystan, saw that he was under attack from the Elf and rushed to aid her boss. With a well-aimed thrust of her longsword she struck a critical blow upon the Elf dealing a mighty twenty-two points of damage causing the Rogue to fall into unconsciousness. With two of the adventurers down, it was left to Leonithas, Bardryn and Naivara to do what they could against the Gang. Unfortunately, the turn order was against the adventurers as the next few turns were for the Gang! While Naivara managed to dodge and weave her way around the attacks made against her, Leonithas was not so lucky. Being able to block an attack from one Gang member he left himself open for the other making an attack against him who dealt a critical blow against the Dragonborn Paladin leaving him severely wounded and weak. Yet, despite the attack, Leonithas still managed to heave his blessed greatsword in retaliation delivering a mighty blow of his own. While this took place, Bardryn, the stoic Dwarf fighter, decided to alter her battle strategy. Throwing down her battleaxes, she grabbed hold of the Gang member next to her in her strong dwarven grip, and with a mighty heave tossed him over the side of the well's wall plummeting the man down into the darkness of the well's interior, his scream of fear falling silent soon after. The sounds of the battle were soon interrupted however, when a new sound of breaking wood and glass erupted from the storehouse. Shortly after, the door to the storehouse burst open in a shower of splintering wood as an enraged feline humanoid emerged. With a shriek of "Drystan!" this new member to the battle pounced and scrambled its way to the roof of the storehouse looking out onto the battle below in search of its intended prey. It soon found Drystan on the exterior steps to the second level of the storehouse where it proceeded to swing a ball and chain toward him. Seeing the figure on the roof though, Drystan managed to evade the ball which struck the wall of the storehouse with a a heavy thud, splintering the wood where it connected. Naivara meanwhile continued her defence against the two Gang members assailing her, sending out a ray of frost in the hope of cooling one of them down a little, though unfortunately the ray passed by the Gang member who dodge out of its way. In amongst all this, Tados still lay on the ground unconscious, yet not dead as a successful saving death roll kept him in the game a little longer. Drystan, having luckily dodged a ball that would have crushed his head had it impacted, jumped down from the stairs and hastily retreated to a safer area. With three of the adventurers down, he took the opportunity to call out once more for the remaining adventurers, and now the new-comer as well, to lay down their weapons and seek a more amicable ending. Feeling empowered by sending one of the Gang down the well, Bardryn was having none of it yelling back, "Come say that to my face! Right here next to this well!" Taking the opportunity of the short interruption of Drystan, the feline once more sent the ball and chain down, though this time intending to ensnare the Sorceress. However, the Sorceress also saw the attack and took a firm grip of the chain stopping it from being used again. There ensued a short tug-of-war, as the Sorceress then attempted to pull the feline figure down from the roof, but was unable to do so. The turn order came to the Gang who made attacks against Naivara, Leonithas and Bardryn. Naivara once more successfully evaded her assailants, though Leonithas was not so fortunate, going down to a well-timed attack that slipped past his shield. Bardryn, confident and buoyed by her success at the well also managed to deflect the attacks against her. With three adventurers now down, Drystan took his turn to recall his members to his side. Unfortunately, this did provoke some opportunistic attacks from the remaining adventurers who were all successful. The feline new-comer managed to finally ensnare the sorceress by her neck in the chain and draw her upward choking her in the process. Naivara, seeing her assailant beginning to flee, turned her hands toward him and let forth a burning cone of flame that seared him as he retreated. And Bardryn, also seeing her foe begin to retreat, took two mighty swings with her battleaxes, critically hitting him as he fled, severing his hand from his arm in the process. Having his men back by his side, Drystan turned his attention to the feline who had the Sorceress strung up by her neck. "This does not need to end in bloodshed. Three of your men are down and all mine are still standing. We can end this amicably if you choose to do so. Let my Sorceress go." "Heal these fallen adventurers and I may do so." The feline replied. With a nod of his head, Drystan sent two of his gang in good faith to heal the fallen. As they came to consciousness, the Feline let the Sorceress go but not before she fell unconscious herself. As the Gang recovered the body of the Sorceress, Drystan spoke: "Heal yourselves. Then we will talk." This allowed the adventurers to regain some health and talk amongst themselves about what action to take. Jett and the new-comer, who now identified herself as Catsi, a tabaxi, were adamant of continuing the fight; however, Bardryn and Naivara were against it. Tados, sat on the fence, being able to see the benefits of both courses of action before finally agreeing with Bardryn and Naivara to take a more amiable approach. Talks then ensued between Drystan and the Adventurers as to how a peaceful end could be achieved. offers and counter-offers were produced with Drystan making solid questions as to the validity of the reason to why the Adventurers were doing what they were doing. In the end it was decided that if Drystan would give them 500gp for their trouble, they would return to Bill and let him know that they had been unable to meet their end of the agreement and he would have to pay Drystan the money owed. Drystan agreed with the condition that the Adventurers would leave something of value to them with him so that they would return with the money owed to him. In a display of accord and trust, Tados persuasively offered his prized book of poems and songs that he had written in his journeys as promise that they would return with the debt. An agreement made and peace assured, the Adventurers, now with a new member at their side and 500gp richer than they were, left the Cornog farm and made their way back to the village of Ensburn, returning once more to the small Inn where they stayed the night before. With meal and ale in hand they refilled their strength but were soon confused as Leonithas suddenly froze, his eyes glazing over as his mind seemed to drift off to somewhere else. For a few minutes he remained this way, when, with a shake of his head, his attention returned to the present and he looked on his friends with a sad smile. "My friends," he said, his Russian accent thick with sadness. "Unfortunately, it is time I left you all. I have been called by Eos, my God, to another path and I must go. I have cherished our time together and have grown fond of you, my friends. But a Paladin of Light must go where he is called." As Jett took over responsibility of the carriage of the Orb, the Adventurers farewelled their Dragonborn friend but welcomed a new friend to their fold.