Arwyn nodded at Gondork.
"Aye. And a sight easier to track than flying faeries as well." She said.
She checked the time of day by looking skyward.
the better part of three hours trudging through the snow and the endless flurries, the trail beginst to climb a ridgeline to the south beneath snow-laden trees. The prints of boots and horses, marred slightly by the accumulation of a few inches, is still discernable.
As you're noisily making your way up the switchback, Gondork's armor seeming to squeak even louder than any you've ever heard, an almost supernal noise, echoing off the chill quiet air and trees, Caladan is distracted, complaining about all the noise, steps on a large branch that he didn't see in the snow, causing a loud crack muffled by the snow, but spooking several owls from nearby perches. The rest of you hear the sound as some rocks fall, tracing the path up, you spot three men with shortbows, in padded armor. Their bows drawn and levelled at you from above.
fort saves 1st hour since last save
fort saves 2nd hour since last save
fort saves 3rd hour since last save
stealth
perception checks
Rash and hasty, one with a red bandana snaps off a shot fast, the arrow arcing through the air and snow, glancing Gondork across the face as he barely manages to avoid the arrow, blood welling on his face from the shallow gash.
initiative checks
red fires on Gondork
[surprise round]
[17: Caladan -surprised-], [11: Red], [8: Gondork], [6: Giacomo], [5: Arwyn], [3: Blue], [3: Yellow]
[round 1]
[17: Caladan -surprised-], [11: Red],
Surprise round________
Spotting the ambush Arwyn drew and shot at mister Blue.
for a possible piercing damage.
Giacomo sighs and mutters, "Why does everyone keep fighting us for no reason? We're just here to protect our families!"
He then notices Arwyn's teeth chatter and decides to channel energy to get rid of her frostbite.
the arrow pierces the bandit'ts patchy blue padded armor, with one good shot right to the gut, he looks down dazed at the arrow protruding from his midsection, blinking in shock and pain.
[surprise round]
[8: Gondork], [3: Blue], [3: Yellow]
[round 1]
[17: Caladan], [11: Red], [6: Giacomo], [5: Arwyn],
Gondork smashes his shield into the ground, putting up a blockade.
AAAmmmmBUUUUSH!!
The blue archer drops his bow, clutching the arrow in his gut, and stumbles back out of view, you vaguely think you can hear him muttering about the authorities, before you lose sight of him. The other bandit with yellow tinged padded armor glances back at his friend retreating, but fires on Caladan, missing with the wind and the snow ...
[round 1]
[17: Caladan], [11: Red], [8: Gondork], [6: Giacomo], [5: Arwyn], [3: Blue], [3: Yellow]
[round 2]
Moving up to where Gondork just shoved his shield into the ground. Growling for a brief moment his heavy shield joined next to Gondork, providing them some more cover as he crouched down behind the shield.
"great, another group out for our blood..."
the red-masked bandit shivers as he comes in closer, firing from a different angle to avoid the tower shield.
red fires on caladan, not having a clear shot on Gondork, trying for better than a glancing blow. then moves forward a bit.
[round 1]
[8: Gondork], [6: Giacomo], [5: Arwyn], [3: Blue], [3: Yellow]
[round 2]
[17: Caladan], [11: Red],
"Come on guys, get them! We're not afraid of you!"
Giacomo casts Bless on the party, then keeps hiding behind the bush.
Gondork grunts, draws a javelin while walking forward 20 feet and throws it at the red bandit with gritted teeth.
Leaving his tower shield behind, Gondork throws his javelin in place,
[round 1]
[5: Arwyn], [3: Blue], [3: Yellow]
[round 2]
[17: Caladan], [11: Red], [8: Gondork], [6: Giacomo],
Round 1________
Still shivering a bit from the chill of travelling, Arwyn stood still. Since mister Blue fell back and mister Red moved into Point Blank range, Arwyn drew and shot at mister Red.
for a possible piercing damage.
Arwyn's arrow connects, stabbing through the red-masked bandits padding, and looking painfully lodged in his left leg.
blue keeps moving away
Yellow tries to shoot Caladan, but misses, and closes the gap
[round 2]
[17: Caladan], [11: Red], [8: Gondork], [6: Giacomo], [5: Arwyn], [3: Blue], [3: Yellow]
[round 3]
Growling at his own stupidity for not bringing a bow with him he turned his attention on the yellow bandit, His eyes piercing the soul of the bandit in hopes he would resemble something akin to fear, teeth showing and letting out the dual nature of the Tieflin
red vs. caladan
missing.
Caladan casts cause fear on the yellow patched bandit, whose eyes flip open in terror, and you can tell he'll be running for a while. The red-masked bandit continues to try and hit Caladan, dropping his bow this time, and drawing his short sword while rushing down the embankment, but failing to clear the scabbard, and instead just kind of "klunk"-ing Caladan.
[round 2]
[8: Gondork], [6: Giacomo], [5: Arwyn], [3: Blue], [3: Yellow]
[round 3]
[17: Caladan], [11: Red],
Klunk this!
Gondork moves up to the red bandit, attempting a punch with his gauntlet.
Round 2___________
Arwyn dropped her bow and moved around to mister Red's side, drawing her shortsword along the way. She thrust out at him.
for a possible piercing damage.
Giacomo sees that everything's under control and stands back, ready to jump into action when needed.
Blue continues his retreat. Yellow slides down the slope. drawing his short sword and stabbing gondark, but missing his footing at a crucial moment and missing with his thrust, while staying on his feet at least.
top of round 3. Caladan.
[round 3]
[17: Caladan], [11: Red], [8: Gondork], [6: Giacomo], [5: Arwyn], [3: Blue], [3: Yellow]
[round 4]
His morningstar in his hand he made a swing at the red bandit, hoping to just hit him square in the jaw, possibly breaking it.
The morningstar connects, tearing the red bandanna from his face, along with a violent spray of blood and molars, he keels over into the snow facedown. You see a look of panic come over the eyes of the yellow bandit.
[round 3]
[8: Gondork], [6: Giacomo], [5: Arwyn], [3: Blue], [3: Yellow]
[round 4] [17: Caladan], [11: Red],
Nice swing, Caladan!
Gondork grins at the yellow bandit.
...Let me elaborate.
Giacomo looks at the battlefield from a distance.
"I may be angry at you guys, but I'm not completely heartless. Don't make me regret this."
Giacomo casts Stabilize on Red.
the yellow bandit goes down in a heap before he can turn tail and run up the hillside. you flip the red bandit over and cast stabilize so he doesn't suffocate in the snow. The one in the blue patchwork of padded armor is out of sight up above, fleeing into the woods.
You can tell the general slope of the land goes up, and Arwyn remembers that there is one man-made shelter in this direction, maybe two miles up, by the top of Red Run Gorge: the High Sentinel Lodge, where the Taldan rangers known as the High Sentinels operate out of a fortified lodge. Charged with guarding the forest against Qadiran aggression, they have lately taken on local matters, hunting down bandits who use the forest to attack trade routes in southern prefectures of Taldor. Its odd that a bandit would flee in that direction.
the Red and Yellow bandit are both human males. their shortbows seem to be simply made, the short swords utilitarian and of slightly different makes and models. They're wearing padded armor that's rather shabby, and bucklers. they've 36 arrows remaining, and ferreted about their pouches you find a total of 16gp and 10 sp. They don't seem remarkably well dressed for the cold, mostly just wearing several layers of clothes under their padded armor, one of them wearing some additional buck skins over his patchy armor.
Arwyn snorted.
"Fool bandits. Let him go. I can follow him wherever he goes. And if he keeps going that way he'll run right into the High Sentinel Lodge..." She said as she sheathed her blade.
As she walked around to recover her bow, she frowned.
"The lodge is pretty well known. Why the hell WOULD he head that way?"
It strikes you as odd and foolish. but perhaps he doesn't know the woods well, or doesn't realize...
"Let's interrogate these jokers, then set them free. Leaving them tied up in this cold will kill them, and as I said, I'm not completely heartless. If they see we're reasonable people, they might leave us alone after that. If they run back to their superior, they might think us foolish for freeing them, and they might underestimate us. Either way, win-win for us."
Gondork keeps his mouth shut, observing the others as they make a decision. After it is done, he wearily eyes the bandits before turning to the other.
I think it would be wise to at least see what is going on at the lodge.. maybe we can catch our breaths there, and if not, we are at least aware of more danger, should there be any.
He spits on the ground.
Anyhow, I don't like this situation one bit. We are in over our heads, have pissed off evil fey and are on our way to meet a foe of unknown size and strength. Hells, if I didn't like cracking skulls so much I'd say a tactical retreat would be in order.
He concludes with a low growl.
Picking up one of the shortbows and arrows he listened to his companions and considered their words. He remained silent for the briefest of moments. Part of him wanted to go after the bandits and the Fey for what they had done to them. But he also knew that the last 2 fights took out alot of their abilities. "We should figure out if these clowns know more of what is going on, for all we know we could walk into a seizable force, and I am not sure we are well equipped to handle that..."
you make litters, carrying their bodies an hour in the cold up the mountains. After an hour, the cold has had a pretty noticible effect on Arwyn and the bandits, their teeth chattering. You decide to pause to channel and be prepared to interrogate. you stop, they're tied to the litters. you postion yourselves, and channel. You wait and slap them both, but neither seem hale enough. so you channel again. curing arwyn of her chill. you risk becoming exhausted, if you're fatigued and it worsens. the second channel rouses the red one. and you begin interrogating him.
fort saves:
, arwyn takes 4
healed for all.
the bandits are still out
healed for all.
Gondork grinds his teeth when the bandit wakes up.
Why did you attack us? Speak up, winter witch puppet!
Rohark ordered three of us to stay here and lookout for any retaliation or anyone pursuing the Lady. We were standing guard when we heard you coming.
Giacomo struggles to look the man in the eye.
"So you decide to just shoot at anyone wandering around? Okay, we're pretty well armed, so I don't fault your readiness to shoot, but we could've talked about this. I mean, one of you got away and we didn't chase him, that's a sign of goodwill, right?
But now that you're talking, we could talk business. You're probably just doing this to defend whoever you hold dear to you. I get that, that's why I was sent here: to defend our little village from would-be intruders like you. I know you're just following orders, but you gotta understand that suddenly arriving here wouldn't seem like a little threatening, right?
Okay, I got an idea. You tell us everything you know about Rohark and this little operation of yours, and I'm willing to let you go. Be extra cooperative, and I might patch you up a little more. Disappoint me, and Gondork here might get a little... creative."
"I mean, I don't want to hurt you any more, but you did hurt my companions quite a bit, and I'm only a small Halfling, I'm not in any power to stop them if they lose their temper because you're not willing to talk. So it's in all our best interests if you just talked, okay? Then we untie you, you get to bugger off, and we'll all have a merry day."
there's a crossbow and alarm trap on the porch to watch out for. i don't know much about ten-penny, she just joined recently. new runaway from some city. i don't know anything else to tell. Rhokar does some magic. He's mentioned studying necromancy before. But i haven't seen him do much.
Calm down master halfling, spare your energies for the road ahead. And you, man.. Better keep your mouth shut or I will shut it for you.
Gondork trudges on, headfirst into the snowy wind.
Enough ambushes... Time to show these pups the fierceness of a true orc, traps or no!
"Thank you!" Giacomo beams. "And Gondork, he's finally talking, don't tell him to shut up now. Anyway mister, if you recall anything else, don't hesitate to let me know!"
There's a bridge, up across the pass, next to the Lodge. its treacherous, but we don't go further deep into the cold than that. Its cold enough out here, we're not prepared for so MUCH cold.
Once the break is over and no more questions occur, Arwyn takes the lead in following the trail of the fleeing bandit.
leaving them with the litters and not much else, you depart the bandits, telling them if they leave now they can at least go on and live somewhere warm if they leave these woods. you doubt they'll reform. but they'll be someone else's problem.
You set off into up the ridge again. you manage to follow the blue bandit's trail, not soon after you've left the other bandits, you find his body, unconscious and barely alive, freezing in the snow where he's fallen.
fort saves: DC 15 due to the break and warm rest.
cold for caladan. which he ignores.
fort saves: DC 16.
cold for arwyn and gondork. which arwyn ignores.
gondork takes 1 nonlethal cold and gets fagigued.
Gondork takes 1 nonlethal cold after travelling for two hours in the cold and snow, and is fatigued.
It's one thing to kill a man in battle, but I won't leave a defeated foe in to die in the cold. Who knows, he might provide me with a real challenge once he trains some more.
in that case. fort saves for the prisoners:
provides +2 to fort saves for all, slows down a little.
provides +2 to fort saves for 4 people
applying the other +2 to gondork and arwyn.
gondork doesn't take the 1 nonlethal. red does. which knocks him back out.
Somewhere during the two hours of marching, up the ridge, with the litters in the snow. Arwyn checking on the prisoners and leading the tracking, you come up the rise close to the lodge just as dusk settles. After climbing a few hundred feet into the hills, the snow trail finally levels off. In a clearing among the trees, a large wooden lodge overlooks a ravine spanned by a long rope bridge. Smoke rises from the lodge's two snow-covered chimneys, and a large woodpile is stacked against the outer wall. A small outbuilding stands east of the lodge, and a stone well nearly blanketed by snow is barely recognizable to the north ( near where you emerge from the trail ). Several tracks lead southwest toward a detached stable.
(To the prisoner)
"And where are you from, by the way? Are from from around here, or did you tag long with whoever decided to invade this place?"
Giacomo will look out for traps. He's been warned about an alarm and a crossbow, he's not dumb enough to just wade in without checking.