To not risk injuring his party members, Grango drew dual daggers and leapt into the fray instead of taking potshots with his bow. Metal clanged against metal as the inspectors and the party traded blows.
"Let's get out of here- we need to notify the commander and get reinforcements at once!" one inspector yelled, backing off under a steelstorm of swift cuts and thrusts by Amon. However, Amon had sustained some injuries as well- a shallow cut to his lower thigh, a thin slice to his cheek.
Hadarai, being a particularly hardy dwarf in full plate armour with a shield and longsword didn't sustain any injuries at all. However, even he wasn't able to stop the inspectors as they strong-armed their way out of the fight. Grango, the closest to the door, tried to block, but was forced to jump aside as he was facing three blades to his one.
Hadarai's palm glowed a calming blue as he patted Amon's wounds, closing them and stopping the bleeding. The wounds were still there, however- any harsh movements or bruising and they would probably open again. Hadarai nodded in satisfaction- this would do for now. "After them," Hadarai yelled, patting Amon's back and bracing his shield. He led the way, charging after the fleeing inspectors. Amon and Grango hurriedly followed behind.
- - -
"... Seriously, what is taking Captain Celran so long?" Perona paused mid-sentence, feigning frustration and curiosity as she was just telling the lead inspector about their cargo (supposedly, general goods to be delivered). "Ms. Aralynn, could you go look for him?"
"No need," the lead inspector said, raising a hand. He pointed to his ears. "I have good hearing. Sounds like footsteps approaching now. That must be him. Must've been some bad chow, huh," he laughed.
"Indeed."
As it turned out, it wasn't Celran. The three imperial inspectors burst through the door. The lead inspector, standing close to the door, had to jump out of the way to avoid being flattened, as Amon, Hadarai, and Grango appeared from the doorway, brandishing their weapons.
"...What is the meaning of this?" The lead inspector drew the saber buckled to his waist. He quickly made sense of the situation as one of the three inspectors that had gone below deck informed him of the situation in elvish. He nodded. "Ms. Perona, I will have to take you and your crew captive-"
He was immediately cut off by an arrow launched by Grango. He managed to parry it out of the way. "Very well." He furrowed his eyebrows. "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way." His eyes glowed a bright gold. "Attack!"
His command seemed to be empowered in some way, as the three other inspectors glowed golden as well, lunging back towards the party much faster and with more power than before.
Not wasting time as the inspectors would quickly close to melee distance, Aralynn shouldered Objection, peering through the sights at the three inspectors. As an inspector lunged for her, she braced the butt on her shoulder and breathed out, her focus on his saber.
BANG.
The sound of the round cracked through the fog, splitting the grey mist with a violent burst of light. The force of the rifle was much greater than the revolver, but Aralynn was able to control its recoil easily as the much more powerful round punched through the air and smashed into an inspector's hand.
A stream of elvish curses left his mouth as his saber went flying. The inspector doubled down, clutching his hand.
Perona promptly stepped forwards and muttered a spell that enveloped her lute with a pink aura. Without hesitation, she batted the inspector sideways with her lute and the poor elf was sent flying over the railing and off the ship. His soul-shaking and resonating scream as he fell made Perona visibly cringe.
"Nothing personal," she said, her face slightly shaken. Her hands were shaking.
She still hasn't gotten used to battle, huh. Aralynn thought.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party had already engaged with the remaining inspectors, who fought for their lives, their commander shouting orders and enhancing them through some sort of skill. However, the party held their own: Hadarai laid down heavy blows with his longsword, and Grango darted back and forth, swiping and jabbing with dual daggers. Amon continued his fight with his rapier, the flexible steel blade flashing dangerously.
Perona, however, promptly threw up on the deck. She doubled over, heaving. As she eventually stood up, her eyes looked dead as she wiped her vomit from her mouth.
"I'm going below," Perona said shakily. "I have an idea. Cover me?"
"Of course." As the fight had gotten too close for her gun, Aralynn slung a still smoking Objection over her shoulder and drew her rapier, the smell of burnt gunpowder and the spent casing choking her senses.
One of the remaining inspectors, seeing Perona rush for the door, managed to push Grango back and jump to bar Perona's way.
Aralynn moved to block but was too late. Luckily, Perona didn't need Aralynn's help either as the nimble half-elf tucked her knees in, dodging the inspector's strike and promptly rolling underneath his feet and into the ship. Her footsteps resounded down the hallway as she tore down the ship at full tilt. As the inspector moved to follow, Aralynn jabbed at him with her rapier, provoking and drawing him into a fight.
This is quite refreshing, actually, Aralynn thought. It's been a bit since I've fought a living, breathing person with my rapier. Aralynn harassed the inspector with cuts and thrusts from the steel blade, flowing from strikes and stances as smoothly as clear water over pebbles in a mountain stream.
The inspector growled. "Stand aside!" He tried to find openings to wound Aralynn fatally or at least enough to take her out of the fight, but he found none. The birdfolk danced in and out of his reach, her defence impenetrable as her thin blade flexed and flashed in the gloom.
Unfortunately for the inspector, Aralynn had no intention of fighting him properly- rather, she was testing him, seeing his limits, seeing what she could or couldn't do to drag time out as much as possible. Seeing as he was a dog of the empire, those that doomed her squadmates and family, she of course had to let him know this verbally.
"I'd rather not," Aralynn quipped. "See, there's more of us than you here, and I have a thing or two against the empire."
Hadarai comically chose that exact moment to toss his opponent over the side of the airship, and the doomed inspector's scream trailed off as he also plummeted towards the earth from miles up in the sky.
"See?" Aralynn nodded, her face serious and nonchalant as she fended off the inspector's blows, one after another. She could tell that he was tiring, his blows slowing down, his form and footwork growing sloppy.
"Damn you!"