Gabriel leaves the Colonel's tent feeling oddly calm. He had just been told he was going to be in the thick of things tomorrow, but he knew Geoffrey was right. He was ready. And he would have a friend by side side in Toramin watching his back. As well as whoever the drow was Geoffrey had mentioned. Finally worn down by the days events, Gabriel heads to the tent he shared with the rest of the squires and passes out the moment his head touched the pillow. Though his pointed ear sometimes twitched at noises from outside, the paladin in training would sleep quite fitfully, used to ignoring the noise that came from being in such a large mass of people.
that's odd...
Lindale whips off a quick Detect Magic at the soldiers.
[b]"Toramin. They are marching towards camp, they aren't guards or a scouting party either... Shall we stop them?"[/dice]
Receiving the communique, Dalton flipped open his spellbook and dog-eared a page. I'll need to keep a sense for any spellcasters about on the morrow. He didn't know much about war, but he did know you could see a sword coming at your face. A fireball was another story - especially if the caster was in disguise.
But he wasn't worried about it overmuch. After all, he'd just won a set of dice, and that always let to better things!
"By Torag's heavy, hairy sack! You are right, Lindale, Toramin grunts.
The young paladin takes in a deep breath and then bellows in a voice that could wake the dead and rouse stone,
Toramin also readies his weapon and moves to intercept.
The men jump at the voice, looking about for its source. Their leader remains still, scanning the area with an annoyed look until he finds the two of you. He marches up with his men and says quietly, dangerously "How dare you question your superior officer. Are you so daft you do not recognize your own soldiers?" His voice is laced with smugness and confidence.
The soldiers are awful jumpy for being in their own army. They even have their hands on their weapons
There are holes in their clothes, dents in their armor. They got into quite a fight
These men aren't injured, but that doesn't make any sense. That's fresh blood on their uniforms! Oh no...they must have killed guards and took their uniforms
Toramin puts all the pieces together and speaks quietly to Toramin, "They aren't our men. See the blood and ruined uniforms. But these men don't seem wounded. They've killed for this disguise."
Toramin gives the drow a quick nod, and whispers, "Get reinforcements."
"I'm sorry, sir. I did not recognize you. What did you say your name and rank were again? I'll need to log you into the report book."
The leaders eyes widen, and you realize he must have heard you. He quickly steps forward, and you see a faintly glowing dagger brought out and thrust towards your gut. You try to twist away from it, but you feel it press into your gut...and realize it got tangled on his sleeve and he tried to stab you with the handle. He growls at his failure, and the rest of his man quickly draw their weapons. Then the leader shouts loudly "We've been discovered, to arms men!"
""
On his turn, Toramin will try to introduce the leader to his longhammer.
Lindale took advantage of the man's fumble, drawing his sword and swinging but going wide.
After the initial treachery things develop quickly. The man flips the dagger in his hand and leaves a scrape across Lindale's breastplate. Just as quickly the drow retaliates, bringing up a sword that bites nothing but the night air. Toramin begins roaring his defiance, and his voice is met by the cold bite of a dagger thudding into his abdomen. The dwarf retaliates with a sweeping blow at their leader, who sees the deadly blow coming but fails to move in time. The blow hits his left leg and continues, completely shattering his femur and stretching the skin to a grotesque angle. The man collapses, dropping his dagger and clutching his ruined leg, howling in agony. As those four skirmish, the other two bring out bows and fire flaming arrows into the camp, one of which catching a tent on fire.
The struggles do not go unnoticed, and the soldiers begin rousing from their tents. Other night guards begin rushing over to aid their allies.
The night is always filled with doubts. Half dreams of his family accusing him of betrayal, of Bandodroga in Brumik asking him various words in Dwarven: Honor, Courage, Traitor, Fear, Base, and Foundation. At one point he practices deep breathing as if he’s at the archery range, calming his mind, calming his body. Peace settles then he’s shocked awake again with doubt.
He’s in bed, picturing the temple he wants to design for Shelyn someday when the shouts erupt on the fringe of the camp. He buttons his trousers. For a moment he pauses. Could he escape now? He belts his rapier to his waist, grumbling. No, no, no. The real danger is Nuro. He can’t flee. He must fight with Geoffrey. Leaving his armor, he slings his quiver around his back and strings his bow.
Dashing from his tent, he sees other tents on fire. Heading towards those he hopes he can join the efforts to combat the flames rather than having to fight his countrymen here.
Toramin swings at the the soldier who stabbed him.
Lindale charges at the closest standing soldier and attacks.
A loud bell starts chiming, telling everybody that the camp is under attack. Soldiers grab weapons and shields, leaving their armor behind as they run out to start helping. Many others begin bucketing water over to the fires, which are starting to spread rapidly.
Toramin and Lindale close in and make short work of the remaining melee soldier, Toramin breaking his sword hand and Lindale stabbing him through the leg. He soldier falls down, broken hand cradled and falls unconscious. The two archers see their allies have fallen and being retreating, continuing to fire flaming arrows into the camp.
Toramin will charge at one of the archers on his turn.
Bjorkus wakes with a start as shouts of alarm and the smell of fire fills his senses. His first thought is that it’s the following morning and the battle was underway but quickly dismisses the thought – it was still the middle of the night. The panicked cries and the sight of soldiers running about without their armor and uniforms confirms that something was wrong and they were caught unawares.
The minotaur looks around. The soldiers that had fallen asleep near him were gone, likely helping with the fires. Now would be an easy time to walk away – leave these nations to their own problems - but he’d given his word to Geoffrey the night before. He’d always prided himself on being a man of his word…
”What’s going on?” Bjorkus demands of the first passerby he spots.
When the soldier falls Lindale watches the retreating bowmen with intent. Speaking a small phrase in undercommon he brings his empty left hand up in a fist. As he flicks his four fingers up towards the sky four yellow lights fly skyward and towards the archers, illuminating them from above. He chases after them.
Psotheos rushes towards the blazing tents.
Toramin and Lindale
Toramin charges one of the archers, who feebly raises his bow in defense but the hammer breaks through wood and crunches bone, splintering his collar bone into pieces. The man drops instantly, and his partner, now wide eyed with fear, calls out into the hills "Now! Bring the rest of the forces now!"
Lindale throws up a flurry of magic lights, then moves up to reinforce Toramin.
Bjorkus
You grab young soldier as he passes, and in the confusion he doesn't even seem to notice your appearance. "I don't know, we think that Xilres is launching a preemptive strike, they're going to burn the whole camp!" As he's speaking you see four yellow lights launch off from the outskirts of the camp, illumination roughly half a dozen distant figures locked in battle. The reaction is immediate, and an entire company of men starts running over to help.
Psotheos & Bjorkus
As you start thinking of where you could help...you notice two men moving away from all the action. In fact, they seem to be heading for the officers tents...Geoffrey's tent. One of them slips inside while the other glances around the area.
Gabriel
You see the lights giving away the enemies position, and quickly an officer comes to your side "You, paladin! We need you to lead a half dozen men, we're going to find all these bloody bastards and put a sword to em!" You're quickly given instructions and sent off with half a dozen men.
All
Stirred from his deep slumber by the crack of a bell, Dalton bolts upright. What the devil?! At first thinking they were under attack themselves, it's clear to him there indeed was a trick up their enemies' sleeve. A damned inconvenient one too.
With surprising alacrity for a man his size, the transmuter galloped about, trying to make heads or tails of the situation. The darkness made it difficult to discern how bad things really were - so that was his first battle. To drive away the night, Dalton found the tallest stakepost or banner nearby and cast a cantrip on it to illuminate the surroundings. That might help them out too, but seeing as we're the one's in our beds, I can't imagine it'd help them more than us.
Dalton
A passing captain sees you illuminate a banner, then looks at you and realizes who you are. "Dalton, wasn't it? I heard you could move earth, we could use you to put out the fires"
With a feeling of grim determination, Toramin sends his long hammer scything through the air.
Bjorkus watches the men sneaking into the commander’s tent briefly before snorting and grabbing his axe. There was trouble alright and it looked like the Andril soldiers needed all the help they could get.
The bull lumbers toward Geoffrey’s tent as quickly as possible.
Toramin will bellow to Lindale. "I got this! Go! Make sure Sir Geoffery is made aware of exactly what the enemy intended to do! Make the report. You are faster than I!"
"Then use me you shall! We need to find where the fires are coming from though - and where the tents closest to being affected are at." The way Dalton saw it, there were people rushing to put out fires, but nobody rushing to prevent them. That would have to be his job.
Gabriel nods and draws his sword. The steel rasps from its leather sheathe and he raises it high, drawing the attention of the men he was suddenly leading. "Follow! To the lights!" His voice rings out across the night and he attempts to lead the men toward the battle. While it usually meant back problems in the morning, he was thankful he was too tired to remove his armor before going to sleep tonight. It might very well save his life.
The smoke and the bright lights of the fire make it hard to see, and the commotion of the camp as soldiers try to get ready to defend their lives or put out fires drowns out all but the loudest noises. With his orders, Gabriel notices nothing, and instead focuses his attention on the battle just outside the camp. The fire was causing chaos in that direction and with so many people trying to put it out enemy soldiers could sweep right in. He had to keep that from happening.
Dalton
After briefly paying attention to the winds and listening to soldiers talk about the fire, you are lead to a huge bale of hay that is sending sparks into the wind.
Gabriel
You search your portion of the hills, but even with half a dozen men at your side you don't manage to find any evidence of soldiers in the area. Eventually you all decide the area is clear and start moving to where all the commotion started.
The young paladins tail twitched in annoyance as they came up empty, and despite his being able to see in the dark he was having trouble locating anything in particular, signs or otherwise, of enemy soldiers. "Spread out. Stay within sight of each other, but start sweeping the area." Gabriel says as he directs the group toward the area where the commotion began. He wasn't very good at tracking, but some of his lessons were coming back to him from Geoffrey's teaching. He was just thankful that, as hectic as everything was, the soldiers seemed to shocked to remember they found him distasteful at the moment.
After being led to the bale of hay, Dalton saw the issue - not that the hay was burning, but that it was spreading elsewhere. This wasn't too bad, but it would take a few minutes to slow down. With carefully-crafted hand movements, Dalton began to shape the earth to be excavated beneath the bale. It's diameter being what it was, he couldn't quite get as deep as he liked - certainly not set the thing underground - but he could cut down on its area to the wind significantly.
After about a minute of outlining its perimeter, the wizard commanded the earth. Out! Out I say! Heeding his call, a corona of earth made exodus from beneath the bale. The size of the bale would make covering it a fool's errand, but - especially with its height above ground reduced as it sank a few feet where the earth beneath it used to be - the flaming reside wouldn't blow as far. Directing the blot of earth in midair to ground itself in an arc windward of the bale, Dalton hoped his makeshift earthen palisade would hold the flaming straw at bay. "We'll still have to get that put out at some point, but she shouldn't be bothering us as much now."
”You saw them too?” Psotheos asks Bjorkus as they head towards Geoffrey’s tent. He draws his rapier about five strides before the tent’s opening.
Dalton
After your work, the soldiers quickly flock around your work and fill it in with water. Their job has become significantly earlier as they create a pool of water for the hay to sit in, and within minutes the flames are no more. There are still pockets of fire here and there, but without any more fires starting up the problem seems to be well under control. Many of the soldiers smile and thank you, and you feel like a chorus of the grateful and patting you on the back.
Gabriel
Two of the men with you are exceptional scouters, with eyes like eagles. The other men seem to trust their judgement, and after several minutes of scouting still nothing is found. The men are confused now, starting to double check the ground they have already been over.
Toramin & Lindale
With only one man left trying to defend himself with a bow, Toramin makes short work of him. The man with the shattered collarbone is clearly dead, but you're not sure about the rest.
Toramin & Lindale & Gabriel & Dalton
Oh no, this wasn't an attack. It was a distraction!
Psotheos & Bjorkus
As you approach the tent the man in front frowns and puts his hand on his weapon "Halt, what business do you have with the Colonel? Now is not the time to bother him with trivial things, he is dealing with the attack and fires"
Bjorkus snorts again and nods at the young noble’s question.
Approaching the front of the structure, the minotaur waves a meaty paw and keeps moving forward.
” The boy and me spotted men sneakin’ into the tent. Outta the way unless you want the Colonel’s blood on your hands”, he rumbles.
Bjorkus & Psotheos
The man doesn't budge, although he doesn't look happy about holding off two armed men by himself. "The Colonel is not to be bothe...he's very busy. Look, just come back later" The man starts nervously glancing around, and suddenly a loud crash! is heard from inside the tent along with the sounds of men struggling.
The crash being all he needs to hear, Bjorkus barrels past the guard forcing his way inside.
Gabriel waves them back. He wasn't sure what happened but if the two scouts hadn't caught anything then trying to keep looking in the middle of the night would only cause more chaos. "Lets go back to the camp. If they attack, we can be more ready to defend from there, and if we're wrong then we can at least help put out the fires."
As he starts leading the group back to the camp and a thought occurs to him. What was important was not what he was seeing... but what he wasn't seeing. And so far he and two highly trained scouts weren't seeing anything. Which meant... "Back to the camp as fast as you can! Keep your weapons ready but do not draw them until I give the command or until someone attacks you! The last thing we need right now is to cause a panic. Double time people!
For once, Toramin sees clearly. "There are no other soldiers. It's a trap! Go, run, to Geoffrey warn him to secure all sensitive items! I will secure their leader!"
Not looking back to see if his order was obeyed, Toramin runs back to the man whose leg he crushed, shouting for a healer.
He attempts to stabilize the man so that they might question him. He also searches the body for information or odd possession, basically any clue.
Toramin
The leader is still alive, and you manage to rip off a portion of his uniform to roughly bind the bone together, applying enough pressure to stop the blood.
Conveniently, where the small attack was launched happens to be on the opposite side of where the commanders tents are. It will take a minute to get over there.
Lindale smiles when it hits him. Of course. How clever of them. Hopefully the colonel has others to protect him and the other leaders.
He lets the lights go out and heads over to the leader of those who attacked them. Kneeling down he moves the dagger aside with his shortsword and focuses his detect magic on it for a time. Trying to find out all he can from it.
You can tell it has some sort of lasting effect in the wound, but aside from telling it lasts a long time you have no idea what its purpose is.