nadya shifts over to put the wall by her side and attacks twice, slicing him with her axe before hammering the pick into his shoulder and releasing. the guard is injured but still standing, barely.
[round 14]
[17: tower guards], [14: giacomo], [14: caladan], [14: ten-penny], [14: gondork (blind) ], [6: arwyn], [6: nadya], [1: fatigued guards (purple)]
"Looking good Gondork! Glad to have the water thing out of my back! I shall return the favor by helping with these guards in yours!"
Ten-Penny lashes out twice. Realizing that the captain is the most dangerous of the two, she starts with her.
"Don't worry Arwyn, I'll be there in a moment after I'm finished here!"
for
for
The fatigued guards put up a fight, one of them hustling to get around and keep Ten-Penny busy, but they all miss. Blue swings at Arwyn, missing as well. Then it's the guards. Captain Yana stands up, provoking from Ten-Penny.
the guard helps to hit gondork, as she gets up (provoking from Ten-Penny, gondork can't see), and cuts off his head.
for
Die already, fake winter witch slave!
These guys are but a distraction... that b$*#@ up there probably already knows that we're coming...
Gondork, though blind, manages to bring his axe down through the captain's head, before she can take off Godork's. time seems to slow down for a second. and you feel a wash of relief.
[round 15]
[17: tower guards], [14: giacomo], [14: caladan], [14: ten-penny], [14: gondork (blind) ], [6: arwyn], [6: nadya], [1: fatigued guards (purple)]
Muahaha... Gondork Witchbane!
Giacomo prods Gondork again with the wand of CLW.
"Darn you, Gondork! Just stay upright for a moment, okay?"
"Don't worry about me! I have this!" Arwyn shouted back.
Dodging the last attack by Blue, Arwyn lashed back with her handaxe.
for a possible
slashing damage.
Ten-Penny lashes out at the only guard who isn't panting at the moment (last tower guard).
for
for extra
for
You shank your sword into the standing guard, leaving him gasping and incredulous. you remove one sword, by shoving the other into his chest, sending him slumping to the ground
claw up a fresh soldier
"Surrender. Idiots."
Nadya manages to injure the one she's fighting a little, but he's still standing on his last legs.
Giacomoo! I intend to die while seeing my enemy in the eye!
With the captains sudden and bloody death, looking around to realize its one barely conscious guard that escorted you here from town, and three fatigued guards, one barely standing, they drop their weapons and raise their hands as a free action.
before you look around, Hatch points out that there's two guards asleep on the wall, he goes with Caladan and Nadya to collect them off the wall and tie them up with the fatigued guards.
Once you can look around, you notice something odd: the stairs go up and out onto the walls, but there's no stairs UP into the rest of the tower.
i've labelled the privies on the map. they seem to have ice-pipes that run with water, carrying wastewater out of the tower to an underground river. the doors next to the privies go up to the battlements and the outside wall. the two guard barracks are empty. you count 17 beds.
the blue rectangles on the map, when you have time to examine them, are glassy patterns of striated crystalline ice, covering the tiled floor of the open alcoves, illuminated by a soft blue light.
"Seems like they've finally given up fighting. I warned them, and feel bad so many of them were killed in vain, but it's for a greater cause. Let me tend to the wounded and continue."
"It won't be so bad, once I can strap my shield back on. I think we should rest as well. But I can't tell where their reinforcements will come from. How can we even get out of the tower? We'll have to lower ropes off the wall and climb down the outside. "
Feeling an invisible tug on her boots, Nadya reaches down and picks up Hatch.
"He says they use the blue alcoves. They're teleporters. He says these ones will take us up to the dining hall if we step in and say a phrase in Skald: `En samling i hallen, ta en, ta oss alle.` "
"It means - `a gathering within the hall, take one, take us all`. It's slow he says, each alcove only transports one at a time. Some of the captains have keys, which activate the teleporters without having to say anything, just step in."
"He knows a few more phrases for other teleporters, but he's too afraid to go any further. He says he can make a ... nest ... for us here, if we need, he can secure one of the guard chambers and watch over us."
"Well, it is good that they surrendered on their own..." TenPenny pants. "I no longer felt the need to ask them. Now, let's search them and then tie them up..
She then starts to strip them from their gear, passing anything which looks like it might be magical (wands, scrolls, potions, unidentifiable strange stuff) towards the rest of the party for identification.
"I think that resting for a bit might be for the best, although I'm not to fond of sleeping near tied-up enemies that might escape..."
EDIT: Ten-Penny also retrieves the two daggers which were used to break free/do combat that we dropped in the courtyard.
As for checking/searching specific rooms, Ten-Penny is interested in checking out the sleeping quarters, and maybe Bordegga's Lair (this last one only if accompanied, who knows what is in there).
the quarters have a few footlockers, but thats just mostly junk.
stashed in one of the kennels around the courtyard, you find a bag of 500gp, presumably Bordeggas bank.
Gondork sits down and takes a sip of his flask.
If we take a rest, the witch may run free... I say we take the battle to her. With preparation, of course. Giacomo, how about you give me that spell and I give my cloak to one of you? I'll strap on my shield and go through the teleporter first, I'd be amazed if there's something there that could put a dent in my grampa's armor, blindness or not.
I hope..?
Good job all. We really showed them what teamwork is all about. Hatch, what will you do when we finally stand face to face with the witch?
Is it just me, or have Arwyn's dice rolls consistently been terrible?
Believe me, I've noticed.
as they're gathering the bodies from the wall, they notice a lot of ravens suddenly fly out of the tower, scattering, flying off in all directions.
in five minutes, you've started searching the bodies, and discovered the gold, stripping their equipment, you've got them on cots in the south barricks. about ten minutes before you've got them all tied up in that room, and back in the entrance hall discussing what to do.
Giacomo addresses the crowd of tied up guards.
"Nadya, could you translate this for me, please?
Guardspeople, I am sorry we came crashing in like this, and I deeply regret our actions and the need for lethal, and in some cases, fatal, action. However, we do this for the greater good and we promise we won't hurt you anymore. We simply came here to free you of your tyrannical leader. I have no idea how we can free you without knowing for certain you won't try a surprise attack on us again, so you'll have to stay tied up until we've succeeded in our mission. I hope you all understand our situation and that there's no bad blood between us when this is over."
"...they notice a lot of ravens suddenly fly out of the tower, scattering, flying off in all directions."
"Well, THAT can't be good..."
When the party is discussing their next move after tying up the surviving guards.
"Although I love a rest, I doubt those crows that we saw fly off can be considered a good omen. We can take on the witch now, but we are a bit low on spells. Also, we aren't really in top notch shape, so it will be a gamble."
Ten-Penny pauses for a bit.
"But if we rest here, we might stand a better chance at defeating her, but only if she hasn't flown the coop by then. Furthermore, we can also assume that those crows by then have made it to their destination. I do not want to be here when the reinforcements show up..."
Ten-Penny closes her eyes and tilts her head a bit.
"I'm not really sure how to proceed here... Gondork says that he wants to go now. What says the rest?"
Gondork frowns at Giacomo in disbelief.
It's one thing to crush a man's honor, master halfling, but you're a bit too cruel about it for my taste. Next time just hold your tongue whenever you have the urge to mess with people's minds because the way I see it, we beat them fair and square. Considering they brought the fight to us, your words sound like those of a crying child whose parents have just been murdered... it's terrifying, really. You might wanna do that on the battlefield though. It kind of feels like gravy without potatoes, if you catch my drift.
Giacomo shakes his head.
"I sincerely believe we owe them an apology. We had no quarrel with them, they were just doing their jobs. We could've used nonlethal force or try and talk this out. The fact that we have an issue with their employer does not give us the right to kill everyone who gets in our way. Our hand was forced, but that does not mean I don't regret what I did."
After resting a bit, Arwyn heaved herself to her feet.
"I can go on. How say the rest of you?" She said, poking about the captured equipment for more arrows.
"I've got enough in me to cast one more spell today. I'm for resting. There can't be many more of them left in the tower."
Just then there's a crack from outside in the heavens, loud and resonous. Nadya and Arwyn move to the door, looking outside, quickly rolling in are dark clouds in the east, brimming with lightning and thunder.
"He says you're a fool. The Winter Witches of Irrisen are not to be trifled with. He says we're all doomed to an icy death." Its self evident that he feels this strongly when he spits in Giacomo's face, they seem very fanatically loyal to the Witches.
Good job all. We really showed them what teamwork is all about. Hatch, what will you do when we finally stand face to face with the witch?
"Hatch cannot stand against Nazhina... so dangerous coming back here... Hatch cannot."
Nadya whispers to y'all, away from any mirrors in a relatively safe area, away from the prisoners
"Any reinforcements they've sent for will have to be other patrols that are out looking for the Black Rider. The next closest tower will take days to reach from here, even if ravens arrive quickly. They'll probably use mirrors to communicate anyway. Actually, them using ravens could mean something ... if they're resorting to their ravens over spells. "
"I'll go upstairs with you, though it might be helpful to stay down here with Hatch and guard the prisoners. No matter what you say Giacomo, you can't understand what each and every guard here is guilty of, what they've done to villagers... It would be a service to the townsfolk to put these guards down like the rabid dogs they are. "
Giacomo is visibly torn between trusting Nadya on her word and the prospect of possibly having to execute people who have surrendered.
Arwyn looked out at the odd weather and just shrugged.
"That's moving in too fast. Its either huge or its going to roll in and loose steam right on top of us. Either way that storm is going to delay any reinforcements at least a day or two, no one can travel in this."
"Hmm, reinforcements being delayed is a good thing, but I'm pretty sure the Queen knows we're here by now, I don't think she'll let us sleep in her castle without sending more troops after us. But I'm afraid we don't have much choice, most of us are out of juice anyway."
Giacomo turns to Nadya.
"I know you think these people are nothing but scum, but they're in the same position as you. They're forced to cooperate or who knows what will happen to their loved ones. They're brainwashed into thinking this is for a good cause, but we know better. At least let them live until we've dealt with the Queen, then we'll see how they react, all right?"
@gondork wants to wait around an hour, attune to the mirror so you have a way to emergency contact him, and then armor up, and go up the tower now.
@nadya says there's a storm on the way, it'll delay reinforcements, thinks there's an opportunity to camp, rest, and go up the tower at full strength
@caladan 1 spell, no judgement, 1 or 2 Commands left
@giacomo 1 channel, 2 spells, a few more uses of Sight for gondork
@arwyn is up for continuing
@ten-penny can't decide
@hatch won't go up, but will give you passwords for the other teleporters
Gondork dozes off in a corner, still tightly holding on to the mirror he found.