Beyond Fort Horizon (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

Is there anything near by where we could hide them? Tarps, blankets? rugs, curtains? Stuff them down the garderobe? Up a chimney?

As Unbolath looks around for a place to stash the bodies of the guards he recalls a small bit of information

Search, DC 15: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24

Remembering the wooden stairs, Unbolath heads to them and starts searching for a crawlspace.

"So.. wha'cha lokin' fer smooth rock guy? lose an arro', drop a coppah'? the runty human asks looking about excitedly
"Oh is this where ya' buried yer' pirate treasure. Yer a pirate right?"

"There is likely a cavity under the stairs where we can conceal the bodies for now."

Portia looks on as Unbolath hides the bodies. Pity we had to resort to violence, but better them than us I suppose

Now I just hope we can finish this without too much issue going forward

The Prison Complex, North/Northeast of Fort Horizon

Day 6, approximate time of day, 7:45 pm (turn, 73)

As Unbolath walks back toward the closed door that leads back out into the area of the prison yard he comes to a place on the floor directly opposite Portia, and with his next step he feels a board under his foot give just a litter and sees the other end of the board, between Portia’s feet come up slightly. It is obvious to him that there is, in fact, a crawl space under this floor, and rather than risk being seen trying to get to the stairs outside, he quickly begins pulling up the floor, using his large sword, until he has removed enough boards to drop the bodies of the guards down under the floor, then being as quiet as he can be, he forces the boards back into place. The whole of his efforts, with Calliope’s help, take a good amount of time, which gives Ritmush time to clean up the mess that was made.

Day 6, approximate time of day, 8:10 pm (turn, 121*)

Standing in the dim light of a small oil lamp near the stairs at the south end of the room, the four heroes

Unbolath
Portia
Ritmush
And Calliope

Think about what the next move should be.

*There was something wrong with the turn tracker, it has been corrected. Hiding the bodies under the floor will take two turns of effort by the group. There are stairs in the southeast corner of this room, and they go down, they go down further than your eyes can see in the dim light given off by the lamp

"Everyone ready?"

Heading into the basement of the prison,

Day 6, approximate time of day, 7:45 pm (turn, 73)

Unbolath gathers the four friends at the top of the stairs, and slowly begins the descent, being ready for anything.

It is a long flight of stairs. So long in fact that the light from the lamp at the top of the stairs is almost impossible to see by the time the group reaches the bottom, but it is just then, when you reach the floor at the bottom of the stairs that there is more light, which flickers ahead.

You find yourselves standing at the end of a wide and long passageway. The passageway is twenty feet long, and ends some one hundred feet away. Placed along the walls to each side of the passageway are doors, actually prison cell doors, made of strong iron bars. The doors are spaced apart by a section of wall about ten feet long, and on each space between each cell door is torch in a sconce on the wall and below the torch, a ring hangs on a peg which holds a single key. The ring is secured to the peg with a stout cord.

A pair of human hands can be seen in the first cell door to the right, and it looks like someone is leaning on the door, suddenly a voice calls out from a few doors further down.

Unbolath, Ritmush, Portia, Calliope, thank the stars it’s you, hurry there is a patrol that checks these cells every night, and they are due soon I imagine.

Unbolath grabs the key and unlocks Agent Hughes' cell. "Explain quietly and quickly what happened. Any information about the patrol will be important."

Ritmush nods as he looks about the room and gets a devious grin on his face "Yeah, beh good ta know how many there usually are."[b]
With that the human begins scaning around the prison for others trapped in the cells.
[b]"Oh krefminniah, Kaffrinmyah... K lady. Where did'ja go."

Ritmush is assuming we need to make an ambush on the approaching patrol.

"Hey Cantillope yas' thin' ya could fake bein' a guard fer a little bit? Jus' incasah them gettin' in whil'se we's gettin tha' news down here."

Good idea, Callipope says, and shifts again into her Lizard man form, then heads back up the stairs.

As Unbolath frees Agent Hughes, Ritmush calls out for Kethinna.

Agent Hughes staggers out of her cell, she is bloodied and beaten, and nearly collapses into Unbolath.

I have no way of knowing when they will show up. Were were ambushed in Mystic Valley yesterday, early in the evening, then brought here. During the night a patrol of lizard men came through, roughed up that fellow there, she points to a cell then left. I haven’t been able to track the time, but it feels like it is the middle of the night now, and they may come around again. It might be better if we made a run for it while we can. If you got in this place without being noticed we should get out as soon as we can. I can explain what I know, but it will take time. Also, when you free the others here, be careful with whoever is in that cell, she points at the cell she pointed at before. I don’t know who or what is in there, but these lizard men seem to hate him in a bad way, want him dead, but are keeping him alive for some reason. The lizard men didn’t treat us all that badly, they seem more curious about us than anything. What was done to us was done by Drespor’s men, dwarves.

When Agent Hughes realizes Ritmush is calling out for Kethinna, she walks, with a limp, to Ritmush, puts one hand on the boy’s shoulder and says

I’m afraid she’s dead, Ritmush. She was captured when we were, but the dwarves were much harder on her than they were on us. They left her body in a cell, down toward the end, I heard them saying that she was done, and wouldn’t be hurting anyone with fire anymore. I don’t know what they meant. I’m sorry.

Agent Hughes will want to leave immediately, to convince her to stay and explain more, and risk being caught by a patrol will require a Diplomacy Skill Check, the DC will be 16+

"How many people are in the patrol"

Unbolath asks questions as they free the others and make ready to leave.

Also how wide and tall is the hallway with the cells.

"Where is Drespor and his men?"

I want to be absolutely sure I am clear on this, are you releasing all of the prisoners?

When Unboloth asks about the patrol, Hughes answers,

ten, maybe more, not too many more than that. I think, I was a little sore in the head last night.

I edited a typo in this post

The passageway between the cells is twenty feet wide, the ceiling height here is only nine feet

When Unbolath asks about Drespor, Agent Hughes, shrugs. It is just about that time when Unbolath comes across a cell with a lizard man prisoner. This fellow is as tall as Unbolath, with striking features. He is built strong, and wears only a pair of pants that come down to his knees.

The dwarf? He is gone. the Lizard man says in common, Release me, and take me to freedom, and I will tell you where he has gone and why.

I don't recall scorch marks in Kethinna's house when we went looking for here. I do recall that Thikka burned the crap out of those dwarves. I'm assuming mistaken identity then?

Ritmush frowns at Agent Hughes's news nodding and swallowing the lump in his throat.
"Sah' shame that, specially seein' how it was tha' other rat person.. uhh Thinna ah think. Yeh' she did that." With that Ritmush looks into the cells and seems to think.
"If tha' patrols comin' soon it might be bettah ta just wait and deal with it than run and get caught half way through that big honkin' courtyard. Ah' can likely do something to distract the guards ontop of the wall buh I can't do that same thing in two places at once. I've extra weapons if anyah' yah wot was dumb enough ta' get caught wanna join in."
With that Ritmush looks over to his allies.
"Somma' us could hide in that crawl space smooth rock-y guy found. If we can confine'em to tha stairs tha' advantage ah numbers they have'd be limited. better is we'd have enough fighters ta press'em on both sides mebee some folks ta take potshots as well."
With that Ritmush looks down the hall and raises his voice some
"Hey Cantilope ya's thin ya could poke ye'h head outsih an tell us if tha' guards are comin' yet?"
Assuming this plan is considered more viable than just running (really depends on how close the patrol is) Ritmush would unlock the cells and have everyone

Ritmush has A dagger, morning star, shovel, crowbar and hammer he'd be willing to offer up to someone as weapons. Also marbles, caltrops and bear traps that could be used here. He has a length of wire he'd use to fake the cells being locked. Effectively we'd all crouch in the crawlspace and either we'd cover it back over or ritmush would make an illusion of the floor being whole. Once the guards had mostly entered the cells we'd exit and deal with any Vanguard left up top. With the doors closed and the only exit blocked they'd need to fight us on the stairs. (Which rather than fighting the guards up here ritmush would likely begin trapping.)

Sound like a decent enough plan?

Portia, will grab her sling and ready it should things get hostile.

She looks at the lizard, floored and how massive the creature is. Wow, and I thought Unbolath was a giant of a man.

Portia, with then nuzzle Issabelle, as she is quite nervous being underground so much. With a quick click of the tongue, Issabelle takes flight in he cramped quarters and hovers around Portia's head.

So, I can lay down cover fire if that will help us escape this craphole?

Ritmush shrugs as he glances over to the human.
S' more tha' wes gotta know if them mooks re' comin' fer us or not. If tha paths gonna be clear then ahm' all fer gettin' while tha' gettin is good. Don' much fancy leavin' folk here if we ken' avoid it though. Like ah said I've a trick that can keep the wall patrol busy so we can likely make it back to the back exit. If we wanna' shake the guards on our trail we're gonna need to go through treeshaker's territory. Be it ol' shaker or angry guards there's high chance some who leave will die."
The human explains as he looks at the collected prisoners.
" So ya' migh wanna stay here if ya fancy slavery over death. Though if those No-holds from earlier are any indication they are just going to talk you to a rock mine to work until you die. So... Dearh or Death I guess?

Talking to the lizard man in the cell that Agent Hughes was concerned about. "You there. Why are you in here? What do the other lizard men have against you? Is it a tribal thing? Or something more?"

As Ritmush tries to think out loud, he moves slowly to the end of the passageway, looking left and right into each cell. He sees a couple of dwarves, and a couple of humans, and one female halfling. Then as he comes to the last cell, he tries not to look, but does anyway.

He sees the crumbled body of a rat-kin on the floor of the cell, a small pool of blood near the open mouth, the eyes staring open, and dead.

But, it is not Kethinna. It is in fact, Thikka.

When Unbolath asks the lizard man to explain, the creature squares his shoulders, and says,

Alright, I'll tell you why I am here, but if you want to know about Drespor, you'll have to release me. I was a guard here. My tribe found this ruin a couple of years ago and started to rebuild it. When Drespor found this place, with a group of your kind he'd hired from Fort Horizon, he made a deal with Naskanar, our leader. He brought us armor, weapons, and supplies, and in exchange we converted this ancient temple to a prison, and began taking the prisoners he brought to us and put them to work in other ruins to the northeast. He told us these men and women were murders, thieves, and rapist of your kind and that their sentences could be carried out working for us. He also brought people here to attend to his needs, women of his own kind, and the smaller ones, the halflings.

I fell in love with one of his women, a halfling woman named Saranah, and she fell in love with me. We would met secretly, and we planned to run away, to your Fort Horizon together. As we became closer, and pledged ourselves to each other, Saranah told me the truth about Drespor, and I told her that I would have to take the truth to your people. She cried and forbid me to do such a thing, saying Drespor was insane and would turn my people against me. I didn't believe her, but as you can see, he did. He is powerful, in strange ways. He must be stopped. If you release me, and take me and Saranah to freedom, I will tell you where he is, and who he is working with.

"Yeah sure, come along for the fun. Where is Saranah?"

She is in the quarters outside the walls to the east. She was here just a few hours ago, there is a secret door on the south compound wall, release the others, and then I'll show you the way.

The lizard man offers his hand in friendship to Unbolath once he is free, and says

My name is K'vin. K'vin Gast. Thank you.

He heads toward the stairs, looking over his shoulder occasionally to be sure everyone is free.

When the Halfling female is freed from her cell, she looks hard at Unbolath and Ritmush, thinking she recognizes one, but not the other, and then she sees Portia, and her eyes open wide in the dim light.

Portia! It's me Jeannine, from Fort Horizon. Thank the fates you're still alive. Drespor swore he would kill all of you.

The large group follows Unbolath and K'vin back up the stairs, then there is a pause while everyone waits to make sure the coast is clear. Then there is a run for the door. K'vin hits the door first and pulls it open, then says

Someone needs to check the wall patrol, and make sure it is safe, then we all run for the stable building, it is in the south. The stable master is not very bright, but he may become concerned with so many of us making an escape like this. I would not want to see him killed, he was always good to me when I was a boy, so let's try to overpower him, tie him up so that he won't be punished for our escape.

Ritmush frowns as he gazes into the last cell for a short time
Good riddance The human mutters under his breath, turning to deal with those still living. Not able to entirely remove the shake from his hand as he walks back the other way.
-----
As everyone gathers at the door Ritmush seems to think of something
"Oi, any ah' you'se see another rat person come here lately? Tha' wasn' Kermiyiah, it was yer grumpy rat person. Thikka"

With that Ritmush looks over to the halfling and gives the halfling an appraising look before shrugging "So anya' ya wanna weapon? I've a few ah ken spare an' I 'spect tha' Port lady an' smooth rocky guy migh' have some spares as well."

He then looks over to Calliope "Hey Cantilope can ya go outside an tell us if its clear? Figure s'long as we don't show ourselves we ought to be alright. An' ya look like a lizard guard right now"

Calliope looks at K'vin, and tries to smile. The lizard man returns her gaze with a stern look and a shake of his head.

He addresses the girl

Who are you? I've never seen you here before. What is going on here?

Calliope shifts into her normal form for an instant and then shifts back. She then tries to adopt a cold uninterested look, and takes a step out of the door to look around, saying over her shoulder,

Just your friendly neighborhood shape shifter, shift'n my shape

Patrol: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Calliope seems frozen for a moment

Disguise: 1d20 + 29 ⇒ (15) + 29 = 44

Perception: 1d20 - 5 ⇒ (3) - 5 = -2

Staying perfectly still, Calliope whispers back to Unbolath, by the door

The wall patrol is right above the stable coming our way. I know they saw me, but they aren't acting like they care. We should wait for them to turn around, or do something to distract them before they get suspicious.

"Yeah Cantillope's awesome."
Ritmush grins at Calliope's suggestion and flexes his fingers, knuckles giving a pop as he looks to the doors.
" Nah ah' gots this one. Open tha door an' lemme poke my head out for a second."
assuming she does so
Ritmush mutters some words in draconic and rapidly rotates his wrist clockwise, as one reeling in a fish. Directly in front of the wooden stairs leading away from the jail and again further away from the group right up against the wall a heat shimmer appears.
"Alright, ah'm makin' it look like we ain't over here so'es we shoul' sneak best as we can. I'll maintain tha' facade buh if we make too much noise they might break it. So be careful an'h beh quiet."

this is assuming that as a figment effect the lizardfolk won't get a save against the illusion unless they are given reason to. EX: Nothing is there and yet someone just kicked a rock and swore. Is something over there?

Nin-Nin: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

As soon as Ritmush explains(?) what he has done, the prisoners, following K'vin, start across the compound toward the stable doors.

above and to their left, the wall patrol continues on, now heading away from everyone, going toward the west.

On getting closer to the Stables Ritmush seems to have another thought
" Hey Cantilope, ken yeh go over there disguised as someone an' knock tha' stable-man out? Dunno if he'll fall fer' meh story again."
The human pauses and seems to contnue thinking watch out for the smoke cloud there.
"Though who knows, tha' threat'a bein' 'Inside out-ified' could work as a bigga'nuf stick."

Portia smiles a large smile and clicks her tongue twice. Isabelle flies up to Jeannine and perches on her shoulder. Portia than heads over and uncharacteristically gives Jeannine a big hug.

I though you were done for? How..? Her thought ends as she realizes that time is at a premium. We can talk later

Portia and Issabelle quietly move towards the stable.

Unbolath helps guide the people as they move under the guise of Ritmush's fake ground.

He keeps a watchful eye for trouble.

The group moves as quietly as they can under the cover of the illusion that Ritmush summons over their heads, and as they pass through the stables, Calliope transforms back into he usual self, and checks the ropes on the stable master, then she gives the old lizard man a smile and a kiss on the head, for good luck

Quickly moving out through the secret door, Unbolath reminds everyone to stay close to the wall, and wait for the patrol on the wall above to move to the north.

When the Patrol has moved away, that is when K’vin points to the east, and says

This way, he points to the east, to the east of the prison. That is where Drespor had a small town built where his people could live in the style they are accustomed to. My lover will be there. I’ll explain on the way, and then we can make our escape in whatever direction will take us to Fort Horizon

K’vin’s explanation of what he knows about Drespor can be found in the Campaign Tab

As the group hurries along, f0ollowing the wall, Agent Hughes catches up to Portia, Ritmush, and Unbolath, just as the group reaches a small set of buildings which resemble a town much like Mystic Valley, only much smaller. K’vin says he will return shortly, while the rest of you wait behind a small barn

Agent Hughes explains her plan in the campaign Tab

When K’vin returns he is leading not one, but five women, three are halflings, one is a dwarf, and the other is a Lizard-folk female.

I had no choice, K’vin exclaims They all will be killed if even one of them were to escape, so I had to offer them all the chance at freedom

While Unbolath frets over the growing size of the escaping group, Jeannine gets close to Portia, and tells her what she knows.

Jeannine’s Story is also found in the Campaign Tab

With nothing left to do but make a run for it, the large group heads directly south, across the desert, by the light of the moon and stars they run for as long as they can before fatigue overcomes them. Surely by now their escape is known in the prison, but where will the guards search. First they will find the trail of so many people near the wall, and then to the east to the town, but how long will they waste time in that small town before they look elsewhere, and even then, will they set out across the desert to Fort Horizon if they do not know where it lies?

The group rest, but only for a short time, as Unbolath and Portia know following the trail of such a large group will not be impossible. When everyone has caught at least some breath, the run begins again, only it is not as fast now. (It is still hours before sunrise, and then it will still be hours before they will reach Fort Horizon, but once they do, they will be safe.

There is another stop just at sunrise, and rations re shared all around, water bags are emptied, and Portia sends Issabelle aloft to get a bearing on Fort Horizon. Soon the group is heading to safety, and another adventure to come.

When the group reaches Fort Horizon a commotion soon is raised. Jeannine sends for Captain Finchly, who is taken back by what he learns of the true nature and dealings of Karl Drespor. He Takes in the escaped Lizard folk with a watchful eye, but soon accepts their story as well. The escaped women back up the story with depictions of the crimes being committed at the prison, and Captain Finchly seems to lose his heart when he realizes that all those “expeditions” that Drespor swore were on the up and up, where really just kidnappings and forced slavery of honest settlers to Fort Horizon. He blames himself for his trusting nature, but vows that if Drespor is brought back to Fort Horizon he will see trial. The captain then begins to make preparations to double the watch on the Fort’s walls in anticipation of an attack by the lizard-folk under Drespor’s control.

All the while Agent Hughes and Agent Danvers keep quiet, and revert to their elven names, staying in the background as much as they possibly can.

When Ritmush, Unbolath, Portia, and Calliope are through giving their versions of the story to Captain Finchley, they retire to free room and board for the rest of the day.

They know that once night falls they are to meet the two Agents outside of the Fort, after they have bid farewell to those in the Fort they rescued the night before. If what these agents claim is true, a form of transportation is hidden to the west of the fort, in a cave, and this vehicle will take them to a place no one in Fort Horizon has even the faintest idea even exists. It is a city some one hundred forty miles to the north.

A city called Torch. It is in Torch, where Carl Drespor has been making his fortune all along, and it is there where the dwarf has gone.

Ritmush is a babbling fountain of difficult to understand butchered common as he points out various things he considers dangerous (more often than not wrong) and blithely ignores other things which absolutely are dangerous.

The ghost scorpion he found in his boot and attempted to keep as a pet for example.

Ritmush has little to say to Captain Finchley having just joined this group out of petty revenge in the first place.

"Pretty sure tha' Deerspoor guy's tha one tha' had all them's dress up lik' meh kin an' is kina' responsidle fer their deaths an' tha' ratpersons death an' a whole messa otha' things. So... he's a jerk. yeh' tha's righ' a jerk."

Ritmush spends some time wandering the fort and looking at things he can't fully afford. Assuming he can find someone trained in valuables after being informed to the value of the coins he looted off the dead guy in the forest he will trade the more valuable coins for gold. having no real interest in trying to extract their full price.

Flush with gold ritmush goes to the nearest merchant and demands his finest crossbow.
Though it takes a few minutes to redirect him the merchant does manage to convince Ritmush to try and buy such an object from an actual weapons merchant.

He then buys some odds and ends, befriends a few of the Forts children and causes a minor ruckus. following this he goes to his room and waits for the time to depart.

Lemme know if there are any problems with these stated actions. I figured they'd be fine amusingly I actually would be interested in Ritmush buying an exotic pet so if such a thing exists in town the easily distracted boy would ignore improving his crossbow and buy that instead. Anything with scales that is vaguely dragon-like would attract Ritmush.

Ritmush, Portia, Unbolath and Calliope gather some additional supplies, and when the sun sets they quietly follow the two elven agents out of the fort.

Hurrying the group moves south, southwest of the fort until a small ravine is found. Agent Hughes leads the group along the ravine for a while until a small cave in a sloped hillside is discovered.

Inside the cave is a long wagon like vehicle with no wheels. It is open topped and has three rows of seats. In front of the first row of seats are a complex assortment of levers and knobs, and a strange stick rises out of the floor with a peculiar looking set of handles fixed to the top of the stick.

Agent Hughes and Agent Danvers quickly stow their back packs at the rear of this strange vehicle, and tell the four of you to take a seat. Once you are seated the agents fasten straps across your bodies that hold your fast to the backs of the seats.

The two agents climb into the front seat of this strange looking vehicle, and begin talking to each other in short commands, as if they are going over a check list.

Suddenly the vehicle rises a few feet off the ground, turns in place and glides out of the cave.

Once free of the cave your feel your breath caught in your throat as the vehicle shoots upward into the night sky pivots in a wide arc to the north, and then accelerates at an impossible speed through the sky.

The cold desert air stings at your face as you race across the countryside. Looking over the edge of the vehicle’s side you see that you are at least a hundred feet above the ground.

Minutes turn into hours, and at one point Agent Hughes points to a glowing rune covered panel on the front interior wall of this raft. A tiny blip flashes on the screen, and Agent Danvers, his hands on the odd control stick, gently eases the stick to one side and the raft slides to the northwest changing course until the flashing blip is now at the top dead center of the display.

More time passes, and you close your eyes and rest.

You wake up when you feel the raft settling down slowly onto the ground.
You have landed on flat stretch of sandy desert and to the east you can see a small structure and a regular wisp of smoke flows out of a chimney on the building, and the warm glow of yellow light, from lamps perhaps or a fire, shines out through open windows of the building.

Beyond the building, further to the east, you see a small hill rise and the flicker of hundreds of lights from buildings that dot the side of the hill facing you.

You have been dropped off a short distance form the last permanent building of the town of Torch to the west. It appears to be a tavern, and it is open late into the night. It is night, the air is cool, cold even, and there is no breeze.

As a group you can all begin posting together in the new game. You can decide to head straight for the tavern, or avoid it and go into the town, but it is late at night.

Unbolath watches very closely what the agents do when they operate the vehicle. He also tries to listen to the words and commands they use. It may never come into play, but that is the sort of person he is. His curiosity about such things would have him fighting the sleep as much as possible.

"Woah, where are we going in this floating bathtub again? Wait we aren't gonna use the ground! THIS IS THE BEST KIND OF BATHTUB! WOHOO!" Ritmush asks rising into a shout as the curious machine starts flying across the sky at ludicrous speeds.
Ritmush has never left the ground before outside of his own power. As such some magic bathtub is likely very exciting for him.

Ritmush spends the time he is not snoring, pestering the pair of agents. Sometimes it is about the magic bathtub they are all floating along in, other times it is about how his goggles keep telling him he doesn't have any "Persimmons" and can't answer any of his questions. Perhaps the agents have some in their glovebox? Oh and do they have bacon in there?

Agent Danvers answers Ritmush's questions patiently, telling him that the goggles will adjust to his requests in time, and that it takes a while for the interface

"inner face?"

to recognize the users idiosyncrasies

And no, there is no Bacon in the glove box.