Stealth (HAHA):
In the early morning, the grass is damp and slips on your boots. The smell of the river is bolstered by the mountain of wet logs making up the compound. Somewhere in the distance a bird *cacaws*.
Sohar tickles a leaf as it unfurls in the light of dawn, and some wave of natural energy overtakes your hearts.
You all arrive at the cottage unassailed. This freestanding building has mud walls and a 50-foot-high ceiling beneath an arching straw roof that is sturdy enough for a man or smaller creature to stand on without falling through. The warm interior contains a crude fire pit heaped with hot coals, with red-hot pieces of metal sticking out of it. Leaning against the walls are blacksmithing tools, including tongs and hammers. A barrel of water stands in one corner by the open doorway, and a sleeping pallet rests in the northwest corner.
A female hobgoblin seems to be working on a piece of some sort, assisted by 2 goblins. None of them have noticed you yet.
When Urth doesn't see any giants, he shrugs and attempts to take full cover from the hob and gobs. He is distinctly aware that he wears hob warlord plate armor, so he doubts that he would be able to persuade them of any peaceful intentions.
Jysson, while still hidden, looses two arrows to the bigger one of the three.
The party has surprised this little blacksmithing group, and they are at your mercy for now. Jysson reinstalls one of the orcish arrows into the smith's mailed back, who screams with a surprisingly girly voice "Oh dear!"
Jax' fire strikes the surprised smith, ironically ending her career in flames. Her tongs jangle on the stone floor as she slumps into her pit, her corpse quickly combusting.
Molok moves in and levels a strike at each of the remaining goblins.
Attack:
Damage: (re-roll 2's ) = 13
Attack:
Damage: (re-roll 1 ) = 12
Molok strides forward across the cottage floor *boom boom boom* delivering a simple yet infinitely efficient strike against the goblins, laying them to waste.
The cottage is a fully functional smithy. The forge currently holds a red hot crucible with some kind of ore and slag.
After the gobs are slaughtered, Urth enters the smithy to look around for something useful. Like a secret entrance to the longhouse or interesting equipment.
Browsing through the smith's work, you find she was not some simple anvil jockey and had a real eye for the aesthetic. Despite most of the items being pragmatic in nature, there is a certain personal touch that clearly marks the smith. There is also certainly enough equipment to pack a small smithy tool kit, if desired, along with implements related to animal husbandry.
An unrolled piece of deer hide has an interesting schematic on it, however. It appears to be a covering resembling armor for a very large, slug-like creature. It has a mechanical adapter near the nape that fits an equally intriguing 20 ft funnel with something like a meat grinder built into its hollow. The mechanical engineer has seemingly signed the work "Deklag".
No secret entrances are found.
"Grab anything you want. Who wants to be first up the ladder? Somebody rukking sneaky, right?" Urth asks and suggests to the team.
He and his plate armor will follow the sneaky folks and lead the squishy casters.
Jysson follows Urth's suggestion and heads up the ladder while the rest of the team scavenges.
Jysson, you find a little bundle of 10 hobgoblin arrows stashed behind a barrel before you start the climb. There is a ladder up to the main floor of the longhouse, with a second ladder leading to the top of the rock formation. Finally, a third ladder climbs the large 60 ft wooden tower occupied by archers.
You can almost see the faces of the hobgoblins and orcs up in the tower, but with the sharp cut of the hills you can avoid their gaze until the very top of the first ladder. You find yourself watching the curtain of the longhouse dance in the wind.
Jysson climbs back down and looks around the shop.
He looks for some cloth, pitch, and fire. Then he soaks the cloth in the pitch and wraps it around two different arrows.
Is everyone ready for some war? We're right below the lookout tower. It's time to set it on fire from below, with their archers up there.
He lights the two arrows on fire and walks outside. Then he fires them up to the bottom of the lookout tower.
Urth shrugs. Easier than a fireball.
*knock chock* The two arrows sink into the soft wood and quickly roar to life. Almost immediately the gong rings out and you notice the archers taking up defensive positions on top.
One of the hobgoblins braves the descent as the others cover him. He is quickly moving down towards the arrows.
Pindleton also searches around for arrows and will take the schematics to study later.
Then he follows Jysson out, and seeing his plan, simply shrugs and then tries to position himself behind the corner to watch the ladder up to the longhouse, bow ready.
Seeing the hobgoblin descend, Pindleton mutters "Delwedd dawel!" and creates a silent image of a rather stereotypical elven ranger running from underneath the tower towards water of the northwest.
Pindleton also finds a tight wrapped bundle of 10, the same make, inside a small wooden box with a brass clasp.
Later, the 3 archers take the bait raining a tight hail on the image, biting the dust.
Jysson states in astonishment as he seemingly runs away from the tower.
Dymm looks at all the equipment, and shrugs. "Was never one for fancy weapons"
Looking over at the tower.. "Would a fireball up there, while they are distracted with that spell, be good... Eh.. lets try"
Fireball up in the tower attempting to hit as many archers as possible.
Pindleton giggles at his cleverness meanwhile Dymmathy kills everyone instantly, blowing the shiny brass gong out the north side in the dawnlight, sending it flapping down some 80 odd feet before slipping into the river with a *sloosh*.
Only the lone, brave fireman on the side of the tower was spared the blast. Given the current circumstances however, the two arrows are no longer a concern. He seems to alter course, trying to put the burning bonfire between him and the party.
"Well, that'll rukking do it. C'mon." Urth takes the first ladder to the level of the longhouse. When he gets to the top, he readies his sword and shield again.
Molok trudges up the hill with the others. His mighty maul slung over his shoulder but within easy reach in case danger rears its furry head!
Jysson takes point, following Urth's direction.
The floor of this filthy kitchen is covered with mud, dirty pots, and leftover food crawling with maggots. In the center of the room, a crackling fire rages in a dome-shaped fireplace.
Tied to what looks like a hastily dropped spit for the fire is a halfling man, who is gagged and has his pockets stuffed with onions "Mmm! Hrgm! Mmmm!" his eyes wide struggling in pure fear.
More dirty pots are piled atop two wooden tables, one of which has a handaxe embedded in one of its legs. Shelves packed with clay dishes and wooden utensils line the walls. A curtained doorway at the end of the north passage leads to the docks.
Jysson ignores all potential threats and immediately goes to free the halfling.
Urth attempts to move quietly into kitchen to position his back against the wall between the fire and the inside curtain. Sword and shield ready.
4
*pang* clatters a sticky copper pot beneath Urth's boot awkwardly as Jysson begins to remove the halfling's constraints. After catching his breath he whispers "Oh g-g-gosh, I thought I was a g-g-goner there. Wow, thanks! Call me Rod, er...Rodrick Hilltopple." he takes a moment to finger his pockets, removing all the onions one by one.
You're welcome. I'm Jysson. We're on a raid, trying to clear out this entire den of giants. Slow going. If you want to risk it, head out the way we came, and you can make your escape. Otherwise, stick with us until we head out.
"I'm not going anywhere without a few of those fine lamb I saw. Take them back to my farm for me trouble, I will. Got a pair of hickory handled shears with that bellwether's name on it---" the halfling's face goes white as he eyes the curtain to the north. A wyvern pokes its head under the curtain and sees you all, roaring a screech of the damned loudly. At the same time, a group of bugbears and goblins charge from the south.
Round 1:
Sohar, Pindleton <----UP
Enemies
Jysson, Urth, Jax, Molok, Dymmathy
I freed the entire lot of them yesterday - you can probably find some roaming the countryside, Jysson says and he pulls out his mace readying for the attack.
Urth casually turns and shouts, "fuego!" at the group of gobs. Then, he prepares to engage the wyvern with sword and shield.
Seeing the wyvern poke its head out, Molok moves forward to engage the beast.
Attack:
Damage: (re-roll 1 ) =17
Attack:
Damage:
Jysson casts Hunters Mark on the Wyvern and then fires two arrows.
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Sohar reacts to the wyvern by shifting into a huge white snake again, pleased with the previous day's results. He then slither-charges at the creature.
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The goblins fly apart like leaves as the conflagration is channeled into their faces, using the ancient power word of dragons. The bugbears seem more resilient...
...but in the end only 1 is left scorching. The stink of the burning flesh and dirty hair mixed with the already filthy kitchen is nauseating.
The wyvern head poking through the curtain is nearly instantly lassoed by Sohar-snake, who pulls it tightly down into the path of Molok's huge piece of granite, and Jysson's expertly fired arrows.
You can hear footsteps nearby on the wooden docks just outside, but the curtain makes it impossible to see who is there.
Pindleton nods at the freed halfling, ”Greetings, friend! Pindleton Montague IV, of the Montague explorers. Pleased to meet you. Spared you from that fire but be on your toes! This bunch tends to hit hard and big.“ Then he smiles and does his best to help take down the wyvern while it is distracted by the other combatants.
Jax spins fire from nothing into a thin funnel like clay on the potter's wheel, sending it hurling towards the wyvern. His first two blasts are true, but the third goes wide, striking the curtain and quickly alighting it with a crackling roasty brightness.
Pindleton greets Rod and releases a shot right in the eyeball while smiling.
The wyvern stabs into Sohar-snake with its tail stinger...
...and bites, salivating at the envenomed flesh blindly on its last leg of life...
The scorched bugbear runs to the east, around the huge stone fireplace and out of sight.
Holiday Modified Round 1:
Sohar, Pindleton, Molok, Jysson, Urth, Jax
Enemies
Dymmathy <---
"Ah! That huge snake is eating that dragon! No, the dragon is eating the snake! What kind of bizarre kitchen is this!?" inquires Rod.
Round 2
Molok swings his maul up and brings it down on the wyverns skull.
Attack:
Damage: (re-roll 2 ) = 13
Once the creature is down, the Goliath yanks down the burning curtain to see what is moving beyond.
Molok, the wyvern's brains splatter onto the kitchen tiles with an odd viscosity. Behind the curtain is a pair of hobgoblins. One, armored similar to the unconscious warlord from before. The second, dressed in a ridiculous fisherman's outfit of some sort, complete with straw hat and various tackle equipped on his vest. They both go wide eyed at your dramatic reveal.