Adir glares at Leira. He is becoming very impatient with blanket statements about people because of their race. Her implication that Brinya is okay because she has proven herself only serves to make him grind his teeth and tighten his grip on his spear. Adir pushes forward to position himself between Brinya and the potential mob.
"Because she helped to solve the mystery of Rodrik. Because she has lived between us for years and has no reason to do this to Trunau. Because she we know who is really under the attack, and it is not Brinya. The traitor you are looking for is not a half-orc. But it is not the time to look for justice, it is the time to defend Trunau. Leave Brinya, leave your fear away, fight, fight the foreign orc tribes, that's what we have to fight now, not our neighbours!" shouts back Leira.
In fact she might have well tricked us, half-orc of hell, we should not trust any of us Leira's voice sounds less convincing than often, perhaps affected by her own feelings towards Brinya's kind.
Dundin grips his axe and new klar. He gives Brinya a smile. "I will protect you my lady."
He turns to the crowd. "Get to the longhouse and defend your town. Do not try me."
Baseil heeds the words of the heroes, hanging his head in a moment of shame. Turning to Brinya, he mutters a soft, but perhaps heartfelt apology, then more loudly to the crowd, Everyone, those not ready to man the walls, follow me, Abadar will see us safely to the Longhouse. Let these folk go about aiding others, and, handing the burning torch to Leira as he moves away, Seeing to lighting the beacons. Let hope be with us all... The call is picked up by the crowd and within only a few moments the fire pit is clear, a minute more everyone is dispersed, all that is except for Brinya.
The half-orc, tear-stained cheeks and blood red eyes, rushes over and embraces each of you, offering up her thanks. I can never thank you enough, all of you. You brought back my love for Rodrik, you avenged his name, his honor, you have even saved my very life. As much as I loved my Roddie, so too am I in your debt. Take this, handing over Rodrik's hopeknife, still covered in the soot and ash of his pyre. May he in some way honor you, and I too, and let this blade have a chance to save your life, when all other blades should fail you...
The half-orc refuses to take back the blade, a life debt is not so easily forgiven. She takes her leave, making her way to the Ivory Hall and the safety Chief Defender Halgra may offer to villagers not wholly human.
As Leira finds out the torch on her own hands, she moves forward without hesitation "We have no time to lose"
Placing the torch fire in the lower part of the beacon, she let's the fire to catch up as Brinya offers the blade. She gives a stern look to the woman, still fighting inside her between the hate toward orcs and the strange urge to take care of this woman raising inside the girl.
Delia shakes her head in disbelief at how quickly the fear warped the mind of those around her. What of the stories of the attacks of history? Was Trunau beset by the these very same problems then, too? She sighs heavily against the frailty of mortals and their predispositions towards hate; however, when Brinya offers them Rodrik's hopeknife, she takes the scorched blade from her. "I thank you, Brinya. I am sure Captain Rodrik is fighting alongside us all, though he may only be here in spirit. Find someplace safe to hide! I fear more of this may happen elsewhere in Trunau."
With the first beacon lit, and Brinya' dagger safely tucked away in Delia's belt, your group turns it's attentions to the next. The inner quarter beacon is a relatively easy objective to reach, and as you arrive, you shout out to the guards, indicating your mission and requesting access. The guards at the gate shake their heads sadly but raise the portcullis, allowing you to enter the inner quarter, then quickly shut it behind you.
Conditions on the other side of the gate contrast starkly with those in upper Trunau. In the short time between the start of the raid and your arrival here, scout troops from the Twisted Nail tribe have already wrecked much of the inner quarter, utterly destroying the wood pile readied for the beacon, the setting fire to multiple buildings, toppling fortifications, and slaying as many townsfolk as possible.
As you get your bearings, Kurst Grath appears, leading a squad of stalwart Trunauan militia members. Kurst, upon seeing the collapsed beacon, asks you to secure the inner quarter as you make your way toward the final unlit beacon near the Hopespring. Already under heavy attack, the inner quarter may well fall to the raiders if you don’t restore some semblance of order wile you navigate the maze of rubble towards the western gates and the lower quarter.
Meanwhile, Kurst says, I’ll lead a sortie from the town to drive “that thing” that’s throwing boulders at the town closer to the walls so our Trunauan archers can hit it, taking it out for good.
A makeshift barricade has been hastily constructed before the inner quarter’s southern gate. The barricade is already covered in the spilled blood of raiders and innocents alike, and several victims of the bloody fight are strewn about the ground north of the barricade. The barricade itself is approximately 3 feet high and 5 feet wide. The barricade provides cover, but only to creatures within 30 feet of it. An attacker can ignore the cover if he’s closer to the obstacle than his target.
Acolytes from the Sanctuary and the Trunau Countinghouse have set up a small medical station behind the barricade here. The clerics are busily tending to injured militia members and townsfolk, and have little time to talk, other than to mention If you find any injured townsfolk in the inner quarter, bring them back here to receive medical attention. Guards garrisoned in the southern gate towers will then escort those wounded who are fit to walk back to the Longhouse in upper Trunau.
As to the inner quarter, twenty-foot-high crenellated stone walls, interspersed with 30-foot-high guard towers, bracket either end of the area. Unless otherwise detailed, these towers have two stories inside (a ground floor and an upper floor that is level with the top of the walls) connected by simple wooden ladders. Most of the guard towers are accessible via a door on the ground, though some can be entered only from the curtain wall connecting the towers. During the raid, these doors should be locked and barred.
Dundin hails the towers:
"Raise the portcullis!!"
If not answered, he thinks they need to enter the towers to get to the beacon, and gets ready to open the door.
The gate was opened for your group, and you are now on the other side, inside the inner quarter. The guards closed the gate behind you. Kurst met with you shortly before leading his own troops on horseback ahead to reach the gates and take the fight out to the orcs.
You are grouped now by the ruined beacon, near to the barricade and the medic's station.
Dundin rushes to the medic station. "We will bring back any injured we find."
He continues on alert for trouble.
Adir thumps the shaft of his spear against his shield in a salute. "If we hug the buildings to the south, hopefully we can get to the beacon quickly, then work our way back," he suggests.
"Nooo! Green Joseph!" shouts Leira as she observes the old tree burning just in front of her house.
The girl arms tremble as she tries to maintain hold on her crossbow "Mother! Sarah! I have to help them!" shouts Leira.
I haven't seen them at the funeral, what if they are still home? I haven't been with them all these days, I have lost track of them, this is my fault, oh no! Unable to properly think as she sees the flames so close to her house, Leira starts to run slope down, passing the barricade into the direction of the well "I have to save them!"
The stench of death hangs over this small square in Trunau’s inner quarter. Bodies of all kinds—orcs and humans, men and women, children and the elderly—lie scattered across the cobblestones where they fell. Veins of watery blood crawl from the base of the well in the center of the square, spreading from the limp body of a slain Trunauan guard draped over the side of the well. A rare moment of silence on the battlefield accentuates the sounds of crackling flames in the distance and the steady, hollow drip of blood into the well.
As Leira races ahead of the others, she nearly fails to notice a group of Twisted Nail orcs entering the ruins of the Morninghawk residence off to her right. Shouts for help from within the smoldering structure are drawing them, the voice sounding like that of Agrit Staginsdar. Help me please, she's trapped. I can't get her free. The panicked dwarven voice cracks and wavers, punctuated by grunts and groans. Obviously something is wrong inside, and the woman is unaware she has attracted the wrong attention.
Initiatives
First Group: Delia, Jace, Leira, Songan, Tuzak, Orcs A, B, & D
Second Group: Adir, Dundin, Groin, Orc C
is up, 36 hour timer counting
Leira hardly hears Agrit on her run towards home. Suddenly some orcs appear stomping against the huge house doors. The girl is almost to run home, and for a second she contemplates so, but in the last moment she understands she owns loyalty to Agrit, Kurst and ultimately Trunau.
"Tssk!" stopping on place, she 5-foot steps to the well, trying to place some obstacle between her and the orcs so they cannot charge on her, and without more waiting she fires a bolt towards the first orc in the pack, the one closer to her.
The girl then reloads her crossbow and tries to remind silent as for not to be a clear target of the orcs.
Round 1
Delia salutes her Captain as he rides off to engage some creature off in the fields around Tranau. She will do her best to honor his orders and to protect her home! She draws an arrow and puts it to the string of her bow, following along with the others as Jace growls and sniffs at the air beside her.
Delia takes in the destruction with a quiet stoicism... seething anger just beneath her veil of calmness. As she is about to propose a path of egress through the beleaguered Inner Quarter, Leira suddenly screams about her family and rushes past the barricade without warning. Delia reaches out to grab the girl's clothing, but is not quick enough. "Leira, get back here you fool!" She shouts, but then winces as her voice breaks the uncanny silence...
That is when she notices the group of orcs attacking the ruined home of Sara. She watches in horror as Leira engages the orcs with her crossbow from a terribly defended position. "Leira, fall back!" She screams at the young girl. "Jace, defend her! GO!"
Jace rushes forward to leap over the barricade wall to follow his master's command. If he makes the jump, the warcat rushes over to Leira and takes a defensive position between her and the orcs, bearing his teeth and letting out a vicious roar. While Jace rushes to protect his charge, Delia takes aim at the nearby orcs and lets an arrow fly!
Leira takes out one orc with a bolt, the shot punching through his back and out the front via his lung. He gurgles and grunts before falling, sounds unheard by the orcs battering the debris to reach the villagers trapped inside.
Jace's roar is also partially drowned out by the pounding and kicking, but one orc turns to see the warcat bounding into position before the blonde haired human. He grins and turns, his ax held ready, smeared with blood from a previous kill. As he takes a step, Delia's arrow catches him through the throat, a confused look crossing his face as he falls flat, face first to the dirt.
Initiatives
First Group: Delia, Jace, Leira, Songan, Tuzak, Orcs A, B, & D (Dead)
Second Group: Adir, Dundin, Groin, Orc C (Dead)
is up, 28 hours remaining
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Songan steps directly up to the barricade, targeting the nearest orc he can. As he draws his bowstring, he again feels the curious surge of confidence and "luckiness" he had felt several times before.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Songan's arrow pierces the back of the orc kicking at the door, causing him to fall mid-kick. The last orc whirls around, seeing the group and realizing he is now completely out-numbered.
Initiatives
First Group: Delia, Jace, Leira, Songan, Tuzak, Orcs A, B (Dead), & D (Dead)
Second Group: Adir, Dundin, Groin, Orc C (Dead)
is up, 18 hours remaining
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Tuzak glances back at Adir who gives him the go-ahead and the giant sloth runs at the nearest orc and swipes at him.
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Tuzak misses the orc as the warrior, ready for the charge, sidesteps at the last minute. The orc whips back with it's and makes two swings in a towards the great sloth, missing both times, too high for the suddenly crouching behemoth. Tuzak easily evades the blows and then rears up, ready to continue the fight.
Initiatives
First Group: Adir, Delia, Dundin, Groin, Jace, Leira, Songan, Tuzak, Orc A
is up, 36 hour timer counting
Leira focuses her magical energies into stopping the orc casting 'daze' on the most dangerous orc menace at the moment approaching to 30 feet to be at range of the spell.
Seeing the last orc standing alone and Leira still out in the open, Delia takes aim at the lone enemy and sends an arrow streaking towards the monster with a prayer to Erastil to guide her aim over Tuzak!
Delia's arrow drops the last orc as the calls for assistance continue within the collapsed residence. As you close on the home to render aid, you see the bodies of the orcs show signs of previous battle, bloody rags and bandages cover wounds received likely when assaulting the wall or passing the gates to reach this point. You all realize these orcs would have been a much harsher, vicious threat had others not already paid the price in wounding them, holding them off likely at the cost of their own lives. Leira glances back at the trooper she saw collapsed at the well. Is the broken bolt sticking from this orc's side his handiwork? Who gave that one such a deep cut to the thigh? How many fell before these monsters, as they savagely tore through town? How many did I know?
Turning to the Staginsdar homestead, you see long flames licking the outer walls of this sizeable house, and burning beams beginning to crumble to the ground beneath the weight of the sagging roof. Though the front entrance remains accessible for now, thanks to the blows of the fallen orcs, the conflagration threatens to rage soon beyond control, threatening the lives of any residents that might be trapped inside. Again from within a dwarven voice calls out for assistance as a loud cracking sound suggests the whole of the place may soon collapse in upon itself.
Rescuers will need to make Perception checks to find the couple within the concealing smoke, DC 15 for first round, decreasing by 5 each additional round, decreasing by an additional 5 for each PC that locates the couple. Sara takes one point of damage per round until stabilized. Additional damage taken once stabilized will restart the dying process, requiring re-stabilization.
Rescuers will need to make at least three Full Round Strength checks for two consecutive rounds to keep the weight up off the victim. Opposed Strength Check DC 10. Aid Another and Taking 10 are not possible in this instance. Failure of less than three Strength Checks in a round results in Sara taking an additional point of damage from the heat, flames and smoke. Up to four persons can make the Strength check each round, so you will need to decide which of you will make the checks, and whether or not you wish to leave Agrit as one of the four doing so.
Rescuers will therefore face at the least three rounds of Smoke Inhalation, requiring Fort Saves of DC 15, 16, and 17 respectively to avoid spending a round choking and coughing, thereby losing potential progress that round. Each round of additional time spent adds 1 to the Save DC.
I can make the needed rolls for everyone, but will need to know who all enters the building to render aid, and what type of aid they wish to provide, whether stabilization, lifting the wall, or pulling the smith out once freed.
Dundin rushes towards the distress call avoiding the fallen orcs.
Delia scans the battlefield for any remaining threats before joining Dundin in heading towards Sara's residence to assist! She whistles loudly to Jace, who comes bounding up to her. "Stay here, Jace." She then makes ready to go into the burning home with her friends.
Adir douses himself in water and lifts his shirt to partially block his mouth and nose. "Stay, Tuz," he says solemnly. Tuzak whines mournfully outside as Adir heads into the burning house.
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Adir leading the way, Dundin and Delia attempt to follow the druid into the burning home.
+2 Circumstance Bonus on your Fort Saves vs Smoke Inhalation for the makeshift mask
The trio manages to find their way easily to Agrit and Sara, following the scared woman's cries. Their actions enable everyone else who follows to move directly to the room required without additional Perception checks.
While it is difficult to see clearly due to the smoke and poor lighting, not to mention the tears that start to stream as you begin to feel the effects of so much smoke, you find yourselves gathering around Agrit. The stocky dwarf, herself injured and in pain, is trying with all her might to raise a portion of the stone hearth which has fallen over, trapping Sara beneath it. A large support timber has dropped along side and atop it, making moving the mass aside all but impossible. From what you can see of the smith's exposed form, the flames have already begun to burn and char the half-orc's body, her hair singed, her off green tone already scorched a sickly red. Great blistering boils are rising up over her arm, shoulder and exposed cheek, drawing soft moans but little movement. The closer you get the stronger the smell of burnt hair and flesh mingles with that of charring wood and smoldering plaster. Help her please, Agrit implores, I can't lift it, she stopped moving. Help me.
Sara is unconscious and taking damage. She has reached negative numbers, it is uncertain how much longer she has before death claims her.
Dundin shouts: "Someone heal her, the rest of us lift."
Dundin begins straining at the wall.
Dundin has started his second round actions, remember it is a Full Round Strength Check. 1 out of 3 for the round, three remaining lift spots available. I know Adir stated he was lifting, Delia is likely lifting, so either Agrit or another of your group may fill the last spot.
Delia rushes in behind Adir and Dundin, wincing against the stinging smoke and aura of brutal heat. She is able to follow behind the duo into the room to help assist with lifting the rubble from Sara...
Delia has started her second round actions, a Full Round Strength Check. 1 success out of 3 for the round, two remaining lift spots available.
Delia attempts to aid with the lifting, but succumbs to a fit of coughing and gagging, the makeshift mask she crafted akin to Adir's not giving the support she had hoped to achieve.
Adir has started his second round actions, a Full Round Strength Check. 1 out of 3 for the round, one remaining lift spot available. Adir, Delia, and Dundin are lifting thus far so either Agrit or another of your group may fill the last spot.
Don't forget you each have a Hero Point available to you, and in the upcoming battle(s) there will be chances to earn additional points.
Groin rushes in a step behind his compatriots.
As Delia points out, low is bad will be the Universal default
Groin steps up, replacing Agrit, and lifts at the fallen wall. Unfortunately he is momentarily distracted by the amount of heat and smoke, overtaken by a bout of coughing and choking. He quickly recovers, taking a filtered breath through his cloak and glancing over to his companions, ready to redouble his efforts.
Agrit and Songan move to apply First Aid to Sara, while Leira attempts to find a good position from which to pull the larger smithy out once the wall is lifted from her frame. She notices Sara wincing in pain, finding a few small embers have dislodged and are burning at the smithy's chest.
Everyone looks grimly through the smoke and hunkers down for a second attempt. Dundin grumbles out One, two, three...
I believe this was discussed during the Recruitment Thread, along with the Organizations for which you may join as time passes. I will look and see if I can find the pertinent section.
Dundin holds his breath.
After coughing and choking on the thick smoke, Delia tries to hold her breath, but is unsuccessful and her lungs fill with smoke again! This time, however, she is able to fight off the urge to expel the burning gas in her lungs. She is then able to focus her efforts upon lifting the item off Sara. At first she feels her strength failing and she digs deep into her resolve. With a deep scream of frustration Delia is able to push with all her might and lift the debris up!!! She has just enough presence of mind to remember the newly acquired wand dangling from her bandolier. "Songan! Use my wand on Sara!" She shouts over the roar of the fire.