Sefayll Valerian |
"It's interesting that it's Mokmurian's mark now. A thousand years ago, it was the mark of a human that had enslaved your ancestors. You watch your backs, friends - I would hate to have something bad happen to you."
Yeah, I think we are probably due to part ways.
Illes Elandru |
"Well- I suppose we're off. I don't know what the custom is for your people, but I imagine you'll want to bury your friend and pay your respects. We won't hold you up. Good luck with your ... conquest and all that. Maybe we'll meet again."
Alwyn Agnarrson |
"Yeah, it was good talkin' to ya. Take care of yourselves, and maybe we'll meet again."
They would have been useful allies, but there's no way the charm spells would have lasted past the first few encounters afainst their fellows. So getting rid of the is the safest bet.
Illes Elandru |
Down the trail a bit...
"Yeah, sorry Sef. Those two knuckleheads seem like more trouble than they're worth. We can do better."
I think anything other than a stone giant would be better. It is the one thing that is certain to have massive problems going forward, but I couldn't get over the fact that we had an asset that could either provide intel or be a melee powerhouse. I couldn't figure out how to take advantage of without it blowing up in our faces over the next couple of days in game time, but it seemed like such a waste to just send them off. I thought I might figure something or or Sef might have an idea, but in the end we just sat on this for an eternity. Apologies. Let's move on and make up for lost time.
Aubrey the Demented/Malformed |
The adventurers cross the bridge and leave their new temporary friends standing over the body of their fellow with puzzled expressions on their faces.
They continue walking for a few more hours. The road here seems to be quite well travelled and easy to follow. Eventually it splits: one fork heading down into the bottom of the valley where the sides are beginning to close in to form a rocky gorge; and another, climbing up the side of the valley towards the top of a ridge that juts out towards the river. The vegetation is becoming increasingly sparse, the trees more and more giving way to scrub, grass and bare rock, offering little cover. The sun a beginning to dip in the late afternoon sky.
Perception, DC 15:
Sefayll Valerian |
Knowledge (Geography): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (17) + 13 = 30 Trying to judge where Jorgenfist is from here.
Re: the charmed giants, yeah, I came to the same conclusion.
Aubrey the Demented/Malformed |
Sefayll:
Sefayll Valerian |
"I think we are very close, men. The gorge that the lower trail descends into is probably the one found below the fortress. I think Camlo's sharp eyes are leading us correctly along the high trail."
What time is it? I'm wondering if we would be best suited to rest back here, hopefully hidden in a tiny hut, so we are at full strength when we arrive.
Alwyn Agnarrson |
"Hmmmmm. We're in a bit of a pickle here. The guys in the watchtower will spot us in the morning as we make our way across this barren landscape and raise an alarm. However, if we manage to sneak up on them and kill the lot, their absence will be noted soon thereafter, triggering a general alarm."
"Marching through the night and thus remaining unseen seems to be the best answer, but we must make sure to get into cover before daybreak - which is hard to plan for when we don't know the layout of the valley. Any ideas?"
Sefayll Valerian |
Studying what she can of the terrain between their location and the watchtower, Sefayll offers, "Marching in the dark is only reasonable if we aren't going to be the worse for wear as a result." Does the terrain appear amenable to such a plan? Do we expect sufficient moonlight tonight for such an excursion?
Aubrey the Demented/Malformed |
Hiking in the mountains in the dark would be potentially hazardous. It's summer so it would be too cold, and the road is quite well defined (well, this bit , anyway, and you could expect it to be similar or better the closer you get to Jorgenfist). But you have a greater chance of stumbling down a ravine or something. That said, magic may make that a trivial risk.
Illes Elandru |
I like the idea of sneaking past the watchtower rather than trying to hammer through it, but I think it will come down to our stealth checks vs their perception. I don't really have anything to help us slip by. These are our stealth mods:
Camlo +28
Illes +9
Alwyn -4
Hudak +2
Sefayll +2
Is airwalking an option or is it burned for the day?
Illes Elandru |
Sounds like a plan.
"Look- I know you Shoanti boys might be half mountain goat, but there is no way I'm rock climbing across a ravine in the dark. Why don't we just pull back here and rest a little while. Once you get your mojo back you can magic us up and we'll just strut on through up in the air. Maybe a couple hours before dawn? I figure the guards'll be bored and tired by then and nobody breaks a neck on the way down. What do you say?"
Nevynxxx |
Some of them I'll happily sing, some of them I skip over. The long one at the beginning think I read like a poem. Depends if I can work out a beat to fit. That said, I have no self consciousness about doing silly voices and stuff for them either.
Alwyn Agnarrson |
My dad read The Hobbit to me when I was 5 or 6 - it is one of my favourite childhood memories, and I am very much looking forward to reading it to Emma in a year or two. As for the movies - they all had some really cool moments, but were mostly meh. This would have been a huge improvement.
"Let's find a secluded spot and hunker down. Camlo, could you get to the tower and scope it out? Don't enter it, obviously, just see if you can figure out how many giants are inside. After that you can eat as much as you want."
Illes Elandru |
"Eh- they aren't going to see anything from here. Let's move in a little while we look for a decent place to lay low."
Assuming a reasonable place presents itself, Illes calls up his hide away once it gets dark enough to avoid standing out. "Listen- I should think its fairly obvious, but I just want to hear everyone say it." He looks meaningfully at Hudak. "We are hear to kill Mokmurian since he seems to be the drive behind attacks and the one holding all these loose clans together. We are NOT here to kill every stone giant roaming the mountains. Agreed? Only one of those missions is survivable. Keep that in mind as we get closer to Jorgenfist. No unnecessary risks. We have to avoid getting caught in some small skirmish that draws their whole army down on top of us."
Camlo Zenovia |
"Oh, yes! The less giants face the better this will work out. Are you sure a giant, even this Mokmurian is capable or organising something like this though? Should we be looking out for something pushing him, or should we get in as quietly as we can and try to get rid of him as quickly as we can?"
Sefayll Valerian |
"Reports would indicate that Mokmurian is intelligent and driven. Even if he is not the ultimate brains behind this campaign of theirs, he cannot be allowed to continue. If we remove his hypothetical boss as a threat, I feel he will continue to be a problem. We do need to determine, somehow, if there is something else behind the throne, but Mokmurian's time has come to an end."
Sefayll Valerian |
"I suspect that depends on the situation we find ourselves in when we get there. I'm sure your scouting will be invaluable in making that determination, as it so often is."
Studying the stone giant's spellbook again. The last two spells are Command Undead and Animate Undead.
Illes Elandru |
"Well- here's another little wrinkle. Stone giants seem to be abnormally resilient as far as charms and other magic targeting the mind. Wizards spend years training to fortify their minds against that kind of attack. I wouldn't bet on many of my standard tricks landing on a stone giant wizard. I might have to actually fire my bow. The horror!
But really- I figure I'll focus on turning Hudak into a murder machine and point him at Mokmurian."
"So let's say we succeed. Normally Vethran would be the one with an escape plan. Without his magic how are we going to get the hell out of there before the army piles in around us?"
Sefayll Valerian |
Sefayll frowns, looking through her spellbook. "I don't have your cousin's facility with moving people around, unfortunately. I could prepare several fly spells and I could prepare invisibility. Many of the spells from the giant's tome deal with necromantic topics. Not necessarily helpful in our situation."
"What do you make of this possible inside help, this woman the tribe told us of? Perhaps we should concentrate on making contact with her first and let her knowledge guide our planning."
Alwyn Agnarrson |
"I'm wondering about our possible inside contact as well. I can memorise a spell that might let me contact her tomorrow."
"And, yes, we'll need an escape plan. Though the giant army will most likely fall apart once its leader perishes, the giants will be in a foul mood as they leave. We do not want to be seen by any disgruntled braves."
Illes Elandru |
"Hell- If I have to I'll throw every charm I have left at the first giant I see, climb up on his shoulders and see how fast he can run, but it leaves a lot to be desired in the way of escape plans. We have to do better than that. I'm not sneaking in on a suicide mission. Cam's slipperier than a greased eel so whatever goes down I'm pretty sure he'll find a way out. I could make us not look like humans, but we'll still be the same size more or less and I'd have to hold back while trying to take Mokmurian down to have enough juice left for that. Same for Alwyn and the air walking."
"I might be able to fake them out for a little while afterward with an image of Mokmurian." Illes shrugs, "I don't like it, but the giantess might be some help."
Aubrey the Demented/Malformed |
Camlo:
Camlo makes it along the path reasonably easily and manages to avoid falling into a ravine or being eaten by a night predator. It is quite chilly, though.
The tower finally rears up a few hundred yards off. he can smell woodsmoke and through the arrow slits can see the flicker of firelight.
Stealth check to approach.