Holg looks impressed on Viv's demonstration "You really have a full hand of secret skills. That was impressive! Again!" the Kellid laughs with openly enjoying the show "Could you lift a person like that? Make her fly?"
"Well, I guess that means time for sleep. I will wake up at sunrise and do the last shift" comments the man while walking to his place.
Afterwards Holg just goes to sleep, preparing himself for a long journey of war in Scrapwall.
"I've never been able to lift someone before... and it's harder to lift people than objects. I don't know why. Maybe someone could stand in a chariot and I could lift that and make it fly around, but I've never tried before. It wasn't until just a few days ago that my, uh, 'grip' became strong enough to lift more than a few pounds. I don't know what my upper limit is now. Some of those really big rocks I couldn't move, but if you stood on a box or something, I'm sure I could lift the box. You'd have to be careful not to fall off," says Viv, nattering in a sort of stream-of-consciousness way.
~~~~~~~~~~
"We've got a lot of food imported from Torch," says Viv after Sevroth makes her introduction. "Plus a few other trade goods that I brought - small tools and simple devices. Say, that's some pretty good ink. What's that tattoo for?" she can't help but ask, fixing on the hawk tattoo.
Holg looks at Viv as she speaks, trying to make a pose of strength. At the first opportunity he comments casually "We almost decide to travel to Sunder Horn instead. We heard there have been some troubles around with certain followers of Hellion in Scrapwall in recent times..."
Fireday keeps quiet, letting the others take the lead. He narrows his eyes at Sevroth, trying to read her face and see if she's trustworthy or not.
Sevroth smiles grimly when Viv asks about the tattoo. "It shows my allegiance to the Steel Hawks. Best damn gang in Scrapwall." The other men slam their fists against their chests and give a hearty, "Ooh-ra!"
Sevroth's expression quickly sours though. "At least, we used to be. You heard right about the troubles with Hellion's followers. Right lot of bastards they are. They murdered our boss, Varagio, and put that frakking Smiler, Birdfood, in charge of us. Now we aren't much more than glorified gate guards."
She gives you an appraising look, eyes lingering in your weapons and armor. "Perhaps you coming here might be a singular opportunity to benefit us all. You look like you can handle yourselves in a fight. If you take out Birdfood, I can get control of the Steel Hawks back. In return, I'll help you out in any way that I can."
Fireday finds it hard to get a good read on the burly woman.
"We've encountered some of the Smilers on the way here. We've no love for them," Fireday comments. "I certainly wouldn't say no to bringing you justice for Varagio's death by bringing Birdfood down...provided, of course, my companions feel the same way."
Kaska fetches a couple of laden sacks from the horse and brings them over to Sevroth. She empties them to show off the assortment of of Smiler armor, bucklers, guns, and other assorted weapons inside.
"We've already bitten the Smilers once. I'm all in for taking a few more bites here."
"Yeah! Those Smilers were terrible people. We could turn this guy into real Birdfood."
Sevroth's chuckles as she looks over the shabby guns. "Not bad! And I like your enthusiasm, I really do. Birdfood's squatting in Hawk Palace, about half a mile due north of here. He's got a bunch of orcs that serve him, plus his trained hawks.
"Taking him out will help you start earning your scrap-worth." Seeing your blank stares, she elaborates. "Scrap-worth's a measure of respect in this place. The more you prove yourselves as people not to be messed with, the less people are gonna mess with you, right?"
"That makes sense," Fireday replies.
"I imagine it's a double-edged sword, though: the more we prove ourselves as people not to be messed with, the more people will fear that we aim to mess with them."
"Then we just make friends proactively, and kick over the hornets' nests afterward," says Viv. "Our friends will know that we won't mess with them if they don't mess with us. Everyone else better be on their best behavior."
Coen can't help but feel a sense of disbelief as his companions go from claiming to be merchants to agreeing to agreeing gangland hit.
"Looks like you lot are going to fit right in here!" Sevroth says with a smile.
The Steel Hawks wave you through the gatehouse and into Scrapwall proper. Past the wall of junk, you find a maze of streets and crevasses mixed with large open areas of relatively clear terrain. In some places, jagged but shallow sinkholes filled with strange, smoking ooze spew fumes into the sky, while in others, makeshift streets of ripped-out steel paneling have been laid down against the elements to prevent thoroughfares from being reduced to toxic mud pits by the occasional rainstorm. The temperature within Scrapwall is always a few degrees higher than beyond the walls, and the air carries with it a miasma of chemicals and rust and grit that marks all inside.
As you make your way north, you notice numerous places where graffiti has been painted on the junk in the shape of crude hawks, unmistakable signs that you are in Steel Hawk territory. You spot a few lone figures scurrying about, but nobody bothers you yet.
Soon, you reach Hawk Palace--a glorified name for the ramshackle structure built out of wood, bits of scrap metal, and other items of refuse scavenged from the surrounding terrain. Wooden walkways surround several smaller buildings, and a pair of hulking orcs patrol them.
Fireday watches Hawk Palace for a while, trying to figure out patrol routes and patterns, to figure the best way to plan an attack.
"To get rid of Birdfood?" as soon as Holg hears the word 'fight' he loses any sense of decoy "Count with my sword"
--------------------------
"This temperature is terrible" the Kellid checks his breast full of sticky sweat "And the humidity feels like acid itself. Why do they insist to live here?"
As the group approaches the Palace Holg produces a small caw bone and casts defending bone on himself "This is gonna be fun"
"We ask for Birdfood and request an audience, what do you think?" the man scans the area helping Fireday, and giving a walk around the buildings if necessary to have a clear idea of the complex.
The buildings are built into the wall of junk, so you can't really walk around them. The wooden walkways connect three small buildings with one larger one.
The orcs don't seem to have a set schedule for their patrol. At random intervals, they switch out with others from inside one of the buildings. At any given time, between one and four orcs walk about the complex.
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Kaska shakes her head thoughtfully at Holg's suggestion. "I don't think so, not if we can avoid it" she replies.
"The outcome isn't in question. We're here to kill him, so talk doesn't get us to any better ending. We know he has several bodyguards, and if we go in asking to talk, everyone knows we're there. Us against Birdfood and all his bodyguards at once is the worst possible fight for us."
"If we could take down a couple of them quickly and get inside the wall without being found out, it would help. We might be able to fight the bodyguards in smaller groups as the alarm is raised. Every one of them dead before they can organize betters our advantage. Let's see if there's a way."
Kaska spends a while watching Hawk Palace. She's looking for a route to the wall that would allow a a single person to get there unseen, and a possible way to climb the wall, including the possibility of using her autograpnel without detection. She also checks to see if any of the orcs have ranged weapons, and their general degree of watchfulness. She is, of course, staying out of sight of the sentries.
The orcs are armed with falchions and javelins. They don't appear to be particularly perceptive, stopping often to talk and joke with each other.
There appears to be a portion of the western walkway that goes behind a building and is out of sight when the orcs aren't directly over there. Kaska thinks she could climb up or use her auto grapnel unnoticed unless she was really bad at being stealthy.
"While I'd like to spare as many lives as possible, your plan does seem the wisest option," Fireday comments. "Here's hoping if we're able to take their leader down quickly the rest of them will lay down their arms and accept the Hawks' replacing him. I don't know where the balance between loyalty and power lies in these people, and what it will take to tip it one way or the other."
Holg smiles as Kaska progresses in her talk, he raises his greatsword in a signal of combat "Well said Kaska! The Kellids triumph by demonstrating our prowess in combat!"
The cleric offers his rope to Kaska, "If you are able to climb up, just set this so we can follow behind with ease"
He also says a small orison and touches the ranger "Let Gorum help you achieve this deed"
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After watching the stronghold for a few minutes, Kaska huddles with her companions.
"This is risky, but I don't think we're much worse off if it doesn't work. I'm pretty sure I can make it to the wall without being seen. It looks like there's a place over on the west side where I can get up onto the walkway."
"I'll do that, then move in as close to the sentries as I can. Watch for me to signal you. When I do, all of you come on out and walk up toward the gate. I'll need their eyes on you to close the remaining distance to them. I'll take the one closest to me. As soon as I'm on them, all of the rest of you hit the anther one with whatever you have arrows, rocks, whatever. Throw everything you can at him. The idea is to kill them both before they can raise an alarm."
"After they're down, I'll lower a rope for the rest of you. Once we're all up we'll move on inside. With a lot of luck we'll keep surprising the bodyguards and finish them piecemeal."
"I'll go for the wall as soon as the next sentry change is finished and the relieved sentries are off the walkway and out of sight. That should give us the most possible time before anyone else comes up there."
"Agreed?"
"Agreed," Fireday replies with a polite nod. "Before you go, take this blessing from Iomedae. It will open your war mind."
Kaska moves quietly to the bottom of the walkway when the orcs are on the far side. She fires her autograpnel, sending the spike into the side of the building above. With the flick of a button, the cord retracts, pulling the ranger up onto the walkway. An indicator on the side of the gun beeps softly.
Kaska presses herself against the wall and listens, but it doesn't seem like the orcs have noticed her quiet ascent.
Fireday braces for Kaska's signal.
"Great!" says Holg enthusiastically given to the woman's plan.
The Kellid waits with Fireday, Viv and Coen, and once he hears the signal, he advances to the gates, with his greatsword sheathed in his back and empty hands. As he advances he makes a sign with a smile to the guards up the palisade.
The two orcs brandish their falchions as Holg leads you to the base of the stairs. "Oi! You stop right there!" one shouts. He turns to his companions. "Go tell Birdfood we have visitors!"
The other one nods and starts moving towards the doors to the northeast.
When the orc moves to the top of the walkway Kaska silently rushes him. She must be sure her attack lands so she aims horizontally across his torso.
Kaska's blade slices open the orc's belly, spilling his guts onto the wooden walkway. He groans and collapses, and the other orc's eyes widen in surprise!
Desna smiles on me today! The other is practically within reach!
Kaska hops down off the platform onto the stairs and brings her falx around into the second orc.
Before the other orc can react, Kaska brings her falx down on his skull, splitting it in two! He falls in a lifeless heap.
"Up we go," mutters Viv, keeping an eye out for any rickety walkways or wobbly planks that she might be able to pull down with a telekinetic yank.
The walkways appear relatively sturdy. Of course, with the application of enough telekinetic force, Viv's fairly certain she could cause part of it to buckle. The small buildings themselves are too sturdy to do so.
"The Red Shadow struck in the midst of the fort" Holg observes pleased as Kaska kills both guards. He moves up the stairs drawing his greatsword while trying to be as sneaky as possible.
"So we go now inside that room in front" the Kellid casts shield of faith on Kaska and guidance on himself.
"At your signal" once the group is ready, he opens the double doors.
The doors open onto a large room split into two levels. A large, lopsided throne made of junk and furs looms in the northern half, upon which sits a man with the telltale missing lips of a Smiler. A trio of hawks perch nearby. As he sees you, he quickly gets to his feet and reaches for his bow.
"Who the frak are you? Don't matter--you're dead meat now!" he shouts.
Fireday blinks in surprise as Kaska slays both guards so quickly.
"Iomedae REALLY opened her war mind!" he comments as he joins Holg at the gate.
He casts ironskin, bull's strength and divine favor on himself.
Kaska is looking over the building to the northwest and doesn't notice the others go for the building across from it until it's too late. She curses under her breath and rushes to join them.
"Last person inside close the doors, we're probably going to have more orcs coming in behind us!" she tells them in a harsh stage whisper.
"Your reign of fear has come to an end Birdfood" Holg starts to ready his sword when all others move and attack before he can do "You bothered the wrong people!"
Fireday follows Kaska's command, closing the doors after the last member of the group enters.
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Viv races into the room and takes up a position near the back wall, expecting her more martial companions to move in close. Before they can block her line of fire she grabs one of the fragments and hurls it at the techno-gangster.
The metal dart seems to curve as it whips through the air, picking up force and a sheen of translucent shearing ectoplasm that boils away as it's propelled by aether. It plunges straight at the man on the throne!
Once all the others are inside, Fireday makes his way to the platform Birdfood stands on and begins to climb it to get at his foe.
Birdfood cries out in pain as the dart stabs into his chest.
"Frak! Kij, Rej, Yarkus: attack!" He sends his birds into harry Viv as he takes cover behind the throne. He takes aim at Holg with a special arrow and shoots it right into the cleric's chest, though the defending bone absorbs some of the impact. The hawks screech and snap at Viv but fail to connect,
When Kaska comes through the doors she keeps close to the wall. She tries vaulting up onto the platform but comes up short.
Viv wings another dart through the air almost before anyone can respond.
Coen hustles into the room and stands between the two attempting to climb the platform. He then incants a short spell that summons forth a spherical cloud that begins to crackle with lightning as it roils through the air at the bird furthest from him.