Drogan follows Braham out of the hut, glancing around at the new fallen snow.
"It's a good thing the path only branched two ways. This snow has most likely obscured whatever tracks those horses would've made. With luck, whoever is leading the horses was forced to camp like we were and we can gain some ground."
Drogan paces around a bit, glancing toward the trail. "We should probably eat and move quickly to try to make up some ground. With us taking out the three yesterday, whoever is leading the horses might be tipped off because they didn't catch up."
Aavelixia looks refreshed and ready to head out. "Suzy, good morning" She attends to Suzy, as she is checking for any signs of frost on her leaves she casts a spell on Suzy. "Now you are ready to travel"
Aavelixia looks at Sturla, checks on his wounds.
Aavelixia steps out of the hut and scans the area then looks around for tracks.
Between goodberries and rest, everyone is in a much better state for travel, prepared to move back onto the trail of their quarry. The only problem is, the main trail was obviously a lot of people and horses, but the one they came up was only them following the three men. It might take some work to make sure the group is able to get back on the right track of the main force of kidnappers.
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Drogan grumbles softly, looking around at the new-fallen snow from the previous night. Slowly, he glances back at Braham. "Keep an eye out. I'm gonna try to see if I can pick up the trail." Turning, he trudges around, searching for signs.
Braham nods seriously. Gripping his greataxe tightly, he scans the surroudings, keeping an eye out for any kind of trouble...
"I'm a bit rusty on my tracking, but perhaps I can be of assistance," Thanion says as he follows Drogan in search of the trail.
Drogan has no trouble reacquiring the path that was taken to get to the place you fought the three men, and soon has the group back on the trail you were previously following. Still, with the falling snow, the path itself isn't so much as visible as the berms on either side being high enough to indicate where the trail had gone. Trudging through the cold and snow once more proves to be a struggle for Sia, as it is only an hour into the day when she succumbs once more to the unbearable cold. This time, though, she just decides to urge the group onward until the cold actually becomes too much. Despite this, she is able to ignore much more issues with the cold thus far.
After climbing at least a hundred feet into the hills, the snowy trail finally levels off. In a clearing among the trees, a large wooden lodge overlooks a ravine. Smoke rises from the lodge’s two snow-covered chimneys, and large woodpile is stacked against the outer wall.
A stone well, nearly blanketed by snow, is barely recognizable to the north of the lodge. The several tracks that led you here continue on southwest around the south side of the building. The soft glow of flickering light can just be seen coming through the frosted panes of the three easternmost windows.
"How are you feeling Sturla? Ready to do some more brave things?"
"'Course!" beamed Sturla in-between rubbing handfuls of snow into his face; it helped him wake up like nothing else. "Feeling brave as a soldier's mother! Let's go find us a princess!"
The bard looked perfectly hale and hearty this morning. No one would guess that he'd been near demise just yesterday. The eagle-eyed observer could notice, however, that the northerner sported a new trinket around his neck: a simple arrowhead tied in string hung on his chest. It might seem significant to the average person, to carry around the instrument of one's close encounter with death. Perhaps it served as a cautionary keepsake, a humbling reminder of his own mortality.
The truth, of course, was just that Sturla hoped that it would act as a little conversation starter for the comely wench at whatever tavern the group came across next. She'd ask him what was up with the arrowhead, he'd reply that it was the closest anything had ever gotten to his heart, she'd be intrigued, and he'd ask whether she was up for the challenge herself. He could see it now. Damn, he was smooth.
Sturla grinned.
EDIT ('cause Aardvark posted while I was writing):
Drogan looks around the clearing, picking out details of the lodge and trying to remember what he has learned of the area. He motions, pointing out the tracks they were following which seem to lead around the side of the lodge.
"I think this is one of the lodges belonging to the High Sentinels. Might be a good place to stop in; see if they've caught any sign of the bandits or your Lady."
"Or it might be that the bandits are in there now. Better be careful... Perhaps one of us should sneak to the window?"
Aavelixia "The tracks we are following are from the bandits & kidnappers, they are not going to be friendly if we knock on their door." She looks at Braham " You're right, someone should try to sneak and take a peak."
Aavelixia will move as quietly towards one of the sides where the tree line is(probably towards her right).
"Suzy, defend" She motions herself to Suzy.
Once in a good hiding position Aavelixia will try to see if she can spot anything from her location.
Feeling cold and tired, Sia is happy that Aavelixia volunteered to do the sneaking around this time. Hopefully these people are friendly, I could use a nice fire and a warm bed. I guess my northern bones gave up on me when I decided to leave, she shook her head slightly to erase the thoughts of her previous life.
She looks around, determined to find any threat that will present itself.
Aavelixia decides to scurry into the treeline to the right of the trail, and moving up to have a look at the building up ahead. She rustles crudely up into the brush, and Suzy bravely follows her, slightly better, but almost just as noisily. She peers at the lodge, and can't make out much more than shifting forms inside that can only indicate at least one entity moving near enough the light source to produce shadows.
With Aavelixia making a commotion, Sia turns an eagle eye to the area for any signs of danger, which is exactly what she finds. She manages to make out the slightest line of darkness across the trail to indicate a tripwire. Following the line of the wire, she sees that it connects to a loaded crossbow, and a string of pots and pans suspended just up on the underside of the roof covering the small porch. She can even determine that the crossbow and pots are designed to fall and set off an alarm as the crossbow fires.
She can also make out that there is a person sitting within each window on either side of the door itself. They look like they are supposed to be looking out the windows, but clearly are not paying as much attention out as they are in.
Braham holds his breath and cranes his neck, to see if Sia makes any signals to the rest of the group.
Sia's eyes go wide, and she whispers loud enough so that everyone, including Aavelixia, can hear her, "Stop, there's traps and men in the windows." She motions that they need to hide and quickly tells them everything that she can see.
"I can try to disarm the trip wire and crossbows, but we need a plan b and c. How do you all want to do this?"
Aavelixia moves back just enough to be able to talk to the group. Not giving it much thought she just suggest a few ways to try to figure out the best way to handle this situation.
The tracks we are following are from the kidnappers, so I think we can safely assume these people are not going to be friendly"
"Here are my thoughts, Plan A:
we should probably split up. One of you can come with me and hide in these trees" as she points in the direction where she was hiding. "We will stay on the tree line not passing the well. The others will move and hide on the opposite tree line, again not passing the well." Aavelixia points to the other tree line and makes a motion to where they should stop. "This place might might have more then these two traps"
" We all hide and keep an eye out as Sia tries to disarm the Trip wire, should she be noticed and attacked, we then help defend her".
"Plan B:We already know where these 2 traps are, we leave them be. We split up just the same. Sia I suggest you go hide and scout with the group on this side" She points towards the right, in the direction that Aavelixia had moved previously. "And move closer to the lodge. Each group scouts and comes back to report. Avoid anything that may look odd, or weird, there may be more traps better hidden"
"Plan C: We leave the first trap alone. We all stick together. We move and hide towards the opposite tree lines, we scout that little shed thing, it's probably an outhouse. We pry one of the back boards and place it back loosely, and wait until someone needs to use it. As one of the kidnappers are occupied, we all move at the same time, we remove the loose board and kill one of the kidnappers. We drag their body through the back loose board to avoid being seen. Might not be the best plan, but it will eliminate one of the captors and hopefully making the rescue a bit easier".
"Any other plans?"
Drogan glances through the trees at the lodge, thinking.
"I see the one entrance, and going in through the front might not be the best plan. Is there perhaps a back entrance?"
Looking over at the small outbuilding, "it might be nice to be able to take out one, but there isn't much cover there.That might cause more trouble than help, and there is no way of planning for how long we'd have to wait just to eliminate one. Also, with this lodge, at least originally, belonging to the High Sentinels, there is no guarantee that we wouldn't accidentally take out one of them instead."
Braham starts to listen intently to Aavelixia explaining all the different options, but his eyes starts to glaze over halfway through plan B. When she's done, he swallows uncomfortably, hoping for somebody with more brain power to make the right decision...
Thanion pauses to consider all that was said. "I must agree with our dwarf friend here. Who knows if or when one of them will come to relieve themselves. Perhaps we scout around the rest of the building and see if there are any other sentries or entrances."
Sia nods with the assessment of scouting, considering that is more her forte, but the question arises. "If we're gonna scout it out first, do you want me to go, or take someone with me, or I go one way, and someone go the other? Or, do we just split in two groups and circle around to meet on the other side?"
Drogan glances between himself and Braham. "I doubt either of us would be sneaky enough to go with you, but we could probably stay far enough into the treeline to avoid notice, and still be within reach if things went bad."
He glances back at the lodge. "Without knowing how many bandits there are, though, splitting up might not be the best option. If you think you can scout without being noticed" pausing to glance at Sia, " you might better off going alone to check out if there is another way in. More of us with you would provide protection, but it would also increase the chance of them noticing us."
Noticing that the group has come to some kind of conclusion, Braham vigorously nods.
Aavelixia takes a look at Sia, she looks like she is freezing "I prefer you to go Sia, I can have Suzy go with you. Suzy can be pretty sneaky sometimes. But if you are not up for it maybe someone else can can go and try to scout the area"
Sturla jerks a thumb over toward Braham and Drogan while nodding, "Yeah, I'm about as quiet as a yak in rut, and that's giving it my best. Yer, probably best off doing this with just little green girlie following behind."
With the consensus given, Aavelixia commands Suzy with a tone of grave import to look after Sia before the young woman hares off into the woods north of the cabin. Sia disappears artfully into the tress, and Suzy does a decent job of following suit.
The wait seems excruciating considering the time it takes for Sia and Suzy to make their way around the entire building to get a peek at what's going on all around. She explains that a lot of the rooms are dark, but there is a room on the back, a kitchen it appears to be, with a half-orc woman inside cooking. A rope bridge spans a river ravine, across from what look like the front doors. The door they are at apparently is the back door. The stable has at least more than one horse in it based on the sound, and the second story windows of the south portion of the lodge are lit as well.
Drogan listens to the description quietly, drawing a rough sketch in the snow as Sia describes it.
"Not much in the way of approaches that aren't visible. Maybe we do wait for one of them to come out to use the outbuilding," he pauses, nodding his head toward the small shack. "If we can take one of them out, quietly, perhaps we can use that timing to enter through the back door and gain a bit of surprise on them."
"We need to take as many of them out before they know we are here. We could wait by the outhouse and take one of them out. We can also take a closer look at the stables and see if there's a way through the back wall. Stay there until someone checks on the horses then take them out." She looks around for any other ideas or plans.
Thanion nods with the group. "That may be the best course of action. Divide them and take them separately. We do need to make sure we keep them alive."
The consensus seems to be a reluctant agreement that waiting for one to come out, vice trying to go in, will be the way forward. Nodding, Sia is suddenly stopped, "Wait. Keep them alive? What do you mean? We didn't hold back on the last bunch of creeps."
Drogan glances over at Sia, nodding slightly. "I would have to agree. Perhaps we keep at least one alive for questioning, but I don't see much reason for sparing the others."
He peeks through the trees, noting the thicker foliage alongside the path leading to the outhouse. "I might not be the quietest of the group, but I could probably stay hidden well enough to get behind the outhouse and pry enough boards loose so we can take out a bandit. Trying to take one out in the stables could be a bad idea, as the horses might let them know we are there and ruin the surprise."
The group gets a bit of a wide berth among the nearby trees to circle around to the space behind the outhouse. Drogan and Sturla create a bit of ruckus in doing so, but luckily it is not enough to get the attention of those sitting at the windows. As most of the group stays back a touch, Drogan moves up to try and pry a board off the back delicately enough to put it loosely back in place and without making too much noise.
Using the edge of his greataxe as a prybar, Drogan manages to lever it in enough to get a grip behind the middle board. Pulling hard he manages to remove it from the back of the small building, but it produces the tinny squeak of old nails yanked from their rusty moors.
The sound causes the group to watch expectantly at the back door to the lodge, but there remains no sign of movement. Whoever the two men are keeping watch at the windows, their attention is quite regularly somewhere else.
With the board removed, Drogan can make out the foul interior of the small shed, as exactly what they thought it would be. Luckily, the frigid cold prevents the odors from being too strong. With the back opened, Sia skulks forward, "Here, I should be able to prop it back into place. As well as getting the jump on whatever victim decides to relieve himself." She indicates her spear, a weapon more suited to stabbing through the gap left by a single board, over a great axe.
With that decided, there is no other action but to wait, each of you bundled up against the elements. The group gets lucky, in at least the aspect that it only takes an hour before there is signs of activity from the door. One of the men sitting in the window gets up and moves, and shortly after the door opens a crack. He walks carefully about the porch, avoiding the lines of the joint trap alarm across the space, and heads to the outhouse. Sia is already feeling the weather, as it seeps into her bones, but the cold is not quite enough for where she's huddled to cause any great harm at this point.
The man is too focused on his needs, he doesn't notice her hidden behind the small structure. He is bundled against the cold as he approaches, grabbing a hammer hanging from the door to knock any snow and ice away that holds the door tight. He enters the building, and as soon as he gets settled into the act, Sia pulls the board away and jabs her spear at the unsuspecting man quite literally caught with his pants down. Her weapon strike isn't as strong as it could be, but it is almost disturbing how precise her aim for the vitals of a man in his position. He lets out very little more than a surprised gap before toppling within the interior of the outhouse, the attack not disrupting the act he was there for.
With the man down inside the outhouse, Sia offers a thumbs up to the group, looks into the interior through the missing board, then shrugs at the group uncertain of what to do now with the body in the outhouse.
Aavelixia tries to move as close to Sia as possible, but still hiding in the trees. She wave at Sia to get her attention "Sia, can you drag him out without making noise or be seen?" She explains "we can search this guy and see if he has anything important, like a letter or key. Maybe one of the guys can help loosen another board?"
Aavelixia moves back to the rest of the companions explains what she said/suggested to Sia. "After searching the guy, we could take his clothes so that one of us can disguise ourselves as the dead guy. Maybe even pretend to patrol the area."
"I could place some water on the front porch and in time it will freeze. I can also create water to freeze the outhouse door."
She looks at her companions for any other ideas.
Thanion nods. "With one man down it should be easier to get in, however, we still need to make sure one of these men live. The lady may not be here and they might know where she is."
Thanion then takes a moment to look over their party. "We could attempt to disguise ourselves in his clothes but I feel the ruse would be seen through quickly. Most of us do not have the physical build to appear as our slain foe and some of us," Thanion pauses to look at Sturla, "Are a bit loud."
Thanion pauses to think for a moment. "Perhaps we freeze the outhouse door as you suggest and then call out pretending to be our slain foe claiming he is stuck in the outhouse and needs help?"
"It might take a few minutes for the water to freeze the door. While we wait, we need to make sure our little friend over there is dead. Aavelixia points to the guy in the outhouse. "Sia, could you make sure that he is dead, you can always spear him again.
"Perhaps we freeze the outhouse door as you suggest and then call out pretending to be our slain foe claiming he is stuck in the outhouse and needs help?"
Braham furrows his brow, and you can almost see the gears turning in his head.
"But if we call out, how can we make sure we sound like him? If not, they will think something is wrong. Perhaps we can set the horses free and make use of the confusion to slip inside from the other side?"
Drogan glances back at the outhouse, then beyond to the stables. "I have to agree with Braham. I don't think calling out will work. If we had perhaps heard his voice, we might have had a chance to copy it, but that is risky and could alert whoever is inside. We should at least search the body because, as Aavalexia said, he might have something useful to make our task easier."
He glances slowly at the door to the lodge, an idea forming in his head. "Freeing the horses and going in from the back under the confusion does seem like our easiest way to get in. Seems like more of a speed task rather than a stealth task, since there will be enough noise after the horses are loose to cover the escape of whoever frees them."
"I like this plan. I'll put water on the door so that it freezes. Maybe it will buy us some time so that we can get into position."
Aavelixia creates water above the outhouse closer to the entrance of the outhouse so that it runs primarily on front part and not the backside of the outhouse.
As she is casting the spell, she makes sure she is not seen and the water is place on the roof of the outhouse. After she's done she looks towards her companions and says "Who is volunteering to to get the guy out and search him? and who is going volunteer to set the horses free? If I may, I suggest someone that knows how to deal with horses."
Drogan trudges to the edge of the trees, glancing toward the lodge. "I can pull him out. Dead guys don't bother me."
He glances back at the others. "Just keep an eye on the lodge for me. Any sign that they are on to us, let me know." With that, he stows his pack behind one of the trees, checks to make sure his axe is secure at his belt, and slips back out toward the outhouse, glancing occasionally toward the lodge as he goes.
Sturla lifts an eyebrow at Drogan's claim, "You gonna yank his whole body out the space of one missing board in the back? That's more of a squeeze than he was about to force out before Sia jabbed him in the jimmies."
He waves away Braham's concerns, "If I call out through the space in the back, it's a holler through the door of the s%@*ter, and then the lodge. I don't think they'll spend as much time thinking about how precise the voice is as much as they will be laughing about the fact that he squatted long enough to get frozen in."
Drogan pauses as he hears his friend's comments. "Aye, I guess he wouldn't fit through the back. We still should try to search him for anything useful. He may have keys or something else to help with whoever may be in the lodge. Not sure if we will be able to reach through the boards to go through all of his pockets, though."
To Aavelixia's point, "I'm not sure any of us have any experience with horses." As Sturla boasts, Thanion continues, "Our good friend is right. The voice would be so muffled they wouldn't realize its not right. Only 1 or 2 would probably come out and they would most likely be distracted.
He waves away Braham's concerns, "If I call out through the space in the back, it's a holler through the door of the s@&$ter, and then the lodge. I don't think they'll spend as much time thinking about how precise the voice is as much as they will be laughing about the fact that he squatted long enough to get frozen in."
Braham shrugs. "Fine by me. Let's do this then!"
He scouts around for the best place to hide in an ambush, and then gets into position, staring intently at the door of the lodge.
Drogan watches where Braham is moving to hide, then moves up a bit above so he can move to block the door after the ambush is sprung.
"So, what's the plan, do we attack when they get close to the outhouse? Sturla, you going to yell from the outhouse? then keep it short and try to sound a bit like you're shivering"
Aavelixia takes a look towards the cabin to see if there's anyone by the windows. "I don't see anyone by the windows, moving into position" She moves closer towards the cabin. Once she gets into position, she will have her bow out and be ready to fire.
As the group starts taking up positions, Sia lets the others know that she's going to take up a flanking position over near the door. Tucking herself into the corner between the second story portion and the back door porch, she almost disappears into the shadowy corner with her spear gripped tightly.
Sturla moves to take up a spot behind the outhouse and the missing board. His right shoulder pressed against the shack, he cups his left across his cheek and leans into the opening to call out as soon as everyone is ready and in position.
Once he gets the nod, Sturla takes a big breath, and hollers into the back.
There's a brief pause after the call, before the door opens..
"It would probably be best if we take them while they are distracted trying to unstick the outhouse," Thanion replies. he then takes his position the brush and does his best to hide.