Sterling's Journal - 7 Barrakas, 998 YK

I met Delian on a lift up to the tower on which the guild house is located.  Good thing too.  We chanced upon a group of thugs accosting a man in front of the guild house.  The man called out for our aid just as he took a blow to the head knocking him unconscious. 

I took a quick appreciation of the 5 men.  

1. Human armed with a dagger and a mace.  He struck the blow to the victim's head.  Carries himself with a soldiers presence.  Dangerous.
   
2. Elf armed with Bow.  Archer dangerous from ranged but usually easy to overpower in melee.
3. Three Humans each armed with a sword.  Carry themselves as inexperienced warriors.  Unlikely to be much of a threat.

Upon hearing the victim call our way, the 5 of the men turn towards us.  The human with the mace stepped forward and warned us off as the elf moved into an advantageous position to engage us with a bow.  I was prepared to loose my shield from my back and place my had on my longsword and warn them off, but combat was engaged before I could.

Ethan quickly moved from the stables area and struck at the archer, his timing was close but the archer got the drop on him and he spun around and hit him square with an arrow from point-blank range.  Ethan was in trouble.   He'd made a rookie mistake and engaged before his ally's are in position to support him or come to his aid, fortunately the rest of the combatants didn't turn on him, I might not have been able to cover enough ground to get to him.

As diplomacy was no longer an option I switched my mind to combat, I fired a bolt at the mace wielder to keep his attention and I loosed my shield.  The three inexperienced ones came at Delian and I, and the archer moved to the guild house wall.  Ethan moved towards the mace wielder and appeared to shake off some of the effects of the arrow that struck him.  

Delian struck down two of the inexperienced warriors as I stepped forward to strike down the third.  I encouraged Ethan with some words of strength which seemed to have an effect.  The combat didn't last long.  Jonathon arrived at that instant as well and grabbed the mace wielder preventing him from turning on Ethan.

Someone wounded the archer badly and as I moved forward to engage the mace wielder I 'convinced' the archer to drop his bow and surrender.  He took the wise course and gave up, however the mace wielder did not wish to be taken dispite our best efforts.  The Watch arrived promptly and Ragnolin came out of the guildhouse to see what the ruckus was about, and as this happened the mace wielder slipped from Jonathons grip and he sped off with four members of the watch in hot persuit though I doubt they'll be able to pin him down.

The Watch captain was certainly upset about the bloodshed that happened "On MY watch!" as the captain liked to point out.  Though I regret that blood was shed in this encounter there was little that could be down for the three that we managed to take down.  They just weren't made of the right meddle to be in the line of work they were in.  It turns out that all five were in the employ of the Deathsgate Adventuring Guild.  I'm not sure if the outcome would have been different had I noticed that.

We, Delian Ethan Jonathon and I, explained ourselves to the Watch, we were coming to the aid of a Sharn citizen being accosted in front of our guildhouse and took the actions required.  The aggressors were certainly the Deathsgate members, though it was Ethan that struck the first blow, I chose not to bring that up.  I'll have a talk with Ethan when I can about the virtues of letting ones adversary's show they're hand before engaging.

In the end, Ragnolin vouched for our good character and a fine was imposed each of us of 200 gold pieces.  It was that or spend some time in prison.  We are now indebted to Ragnolin and the Guild and Ragnolin spent no time in ensuring we had a way to pay it back.  We're to accompany the man we rescued to a place called Black Pit and assist them with a local bandit problem.  I don't have many details but we leave shortly after our shifts are done today.  It's a month or more on horseback to Black Pit.  This will be an interesting time, and one that should cement us into a unit.