Abu sits down. "A rest would be good. As long as we can be sure they don't come up on us while we are resting... Any caves nearby?"
"Why don't we at least take a look at the defensible area that we just won?"
"Sure, if you think its empty. Which I highly doubt considering two of them retreated into the keep."
"That's fine. They can't have very many fighting men left, or we'd still be fighting. I'm guessing that their lord or leader is in there," Darwin shoves a thumb in the direction of the keep, "and given the way that they were talking it sounds like they think he is a bad@$$. Once we deal with him, that should resolve it."
Darwin shrugs and finishes with "Or I could be wrong. Either way, standing out here waiting for reinforcements from either side isn't going to get us anywhere. If we're going to do something, we should do it now. Be aware, though, that if we leave this place, we probably will have to do this all over again, since they will seal the gates and post all of their men up on the walls. Your call though."
We should heal first. Krogar especially.
"Naturally, but we should do that quickly. They're probably not just resting on their laurels waiting on us. Actually" say Darwin as he starts heading into the wall "I'll just go take a quick look and see what they ARE doing. Get good sir Dwarf back on his feet and heal up that one" he says, pointing at abu, "and then come join me. I'll make a distraction for you, to make sure you have all the time you need."
With that, Darwin strides into the courtyard.
Krogar grabs Darwin's arm as he moves forward. "Why don't you stand guard over me in the forest while I complete the ritual. It won't take long, 10 minutes is all I ask."
"Sure."
Krpgar brings the group to somewhere out of sight of the forest and begins his prayer.
A warm golden light appears around Krogar, Jamenas and Abu, healing their wounds.
Abu stretches and pats the dwarf on the back. "Thank you man, I feel almost new." He looks around, [b]"Now, let's get dangerous."
"So, are we leaving or going into the keep?"
"We can go back in if that's what you want."
"would be a shame to have killed a whole mess of people for no reason." Darwin swears and then adds "I forgot to roll them. My father would be very disappointed in me."
Back in then. Finish what we started..
From the (good god) "guards" you killed, you find ten sets of longswords, leather armor, rough leather boots, and belt pouches.
From the two combatants who were a bit more fierce, you find two long swords that seem more for ripping than slashing as it has jagged steel teeth to it. Each of these are +1, and can cause a bleed effect on unarmored targets.
From the belt pouches items of note are: three oddly cloudly marbles, 28 gp 32 sp, and a what looks like a roughly drawn map of the fort.
Assuming you want to head back immediately, what's the method? Sneaking? Loud and proud? through the gates? around the other way?
Jamenas picks up one of the serrated longswords. Well.... it seems something good came out of this after all. He closes his eyes and imagines it cutting through one of the cultists.
Abu looks at the map. "I could try to scout a little... but i don't know what their patrols are like."
"Probably much less manned now then before" says Darwin with a chuckle.
You all arrive back at the front gates of the fort, and it seems as though nothing has changed. The gates are open, the bodies are dead, and if there is any resistance to your entrance, its waiting to make their move.
"We should probably clear the outer buildings first, then make our way inside. Looking around, that looks like a stable that's had some structural damage, a barracks, and a couple of towers we should clear as well. It might give them a bit more time to set up a defense, but we've already given them plenty of time to prepare at this point, so a bit more won't hurt."
"Sounds like a plan." Darwin's plans sound reasonable, so Krogar goes along with it.
Pretty good. Should we split to cover more ground, or stay together?
"We should stick together. No point in having us get attacked individually. Let's check out the barracks first; although it's likely been deserted, there might be some stuff that we can use lying around. Then we'll swing up to the towers, before checking out the stable and then heading into the keep proper."
Darwin pauses, then grabs a stick and begins drawing a crude map in the dirt.
"Okay, since we don't know what they having going on in there, we should have a rally point, which is basically a fancy way of saying a place where we regroup." Darwin then explains his map, pointing out each of the places where they will be exploring.
"Okay, so here's the plan: if you get lost, make your way to this point here:" Darwin points to the place where the fell back to that Krogar cast his long casting healing spell.
"If no one shows up in a day, you should leave and assume that the group is dead. We'll have a secondary rally point be the bar that we all met up in, but if you don't hear from any of us in a week, carry on with your life, and drink one for me."
"Any questions about what I just covered?"
"Thats true." Krogar agrees with what Darwin says about sticking together. Darwin's plan seems sound enough, and Krogar answers, "No questions, plan seems solid."
Abu watches, "A good scouting could be good."
"Worst comes to worst, how comfortable do you feel moving on your own? To be honest, you look a little woozy. I'd hate to come across your unconscious body cause you collapsed doing something excessively exertive."
Darwin then eyes each of the party members before adding "How are you spellcasters looking in terms of magic you can do for the day? Do we need to pull up somewhere and rest for a while, or do you feel that you can keep going? I don't know magic, so I don't have a gauge for how best to judge."
"Not much, but you were the one insisting pressing on, anyway."
Assuming no more discussion, the group moves forward with a plan.
There first stop lands them in the barracks and while they didn't run into any guards or soldiers, they do find two here.
Snoring.
Asleep.
By the looks of them, they must have had a late night watch as they hadn't even bothered to take off their armor.
Other than the two men, you can see bunks in various states of mess and order, a few personal possessions though not much of note or value.
Darwin will employ the universal symbol if quiet. Once he has everyone's attention, he will point at the guards, his sword, and then the rope on Krogar's pack before shrugging.
'I can't murder these guys in cold blood' Krogar mouths, then takes up the rope and starts miming tying the guards up.
As you argue silently, you hear a loud snort from one of the soldiers, who's tossing in his sleep. He mumbles something about pretty women, humps the bed a little, and then settles back down.
Krogar ties all the sleeping guards up. And gags them as well with their blankets.
Darwin shrugs and then helps tie them up. Once they are all tied up, he will tell them "Thank this guy you're still alive. I would have just killed you all." and then he will turn and leave.
"Okay, let's keep moving. Time is on our side right now, but it won't stay that way."
You appear to be in the Northernmost Tower and are slowly climbing the steps up. The damage you saw around the structure seems to be limited here and you all finally feel that the ground won't suddenly collapse under you.
Wait....what was that?
Please roll Perception checks and any other checks you'd like.
Abu is too distracted by the grumbling in his belly to pay much attention to the stuff going on around him.
The walls are rough but made of solid work. While Abu and Darwin are looking at the mechanical aspects of the tower's design, seeing if any traps lay hidden, only Krogar is able to hear what sounds at first to be a barely perceptible wind.
Wind....no that's not quite right...it's more like...
Breathing, somewhere above.
Krogar whispers to the rest."There's something up ahead. Lets move up."He looks for stairs up, then goes up them.
Darwin matches pace with the Dwarf and says "good ears. I should probably go first."
"Thanks,"Krogar mutters softly under his breath at the compliment, then follows behind Darwin.
Shrugging, Abu starts up after Krogar, "Just don't fall, either of you two.
"Wasn't really plannin on it."
You all make your way up quietly, trying to keep together and anticipating the Krogar's warning. The stairs slowly wind up, and up, and up, until.....
You all step onto the landing and find three bugbears bored and playing some kind of wrestling game.
They spot you, and slowly draw their weapons, smiling.
"Bugbears! Attack!"Krogar exclaims.
Krogar moves in to bonk the nearest one of them on the head, then his backswing to spank his bum.
Seeing the Bugbears drawing weapons, Abu pulls out his bow and shots one of them.
Darwin will move into melee on one of the bugbears and stab him.
"I would banter with you, but you cows are far too dim-witted to understand that I am insulting you."
Darwin will spinning from the initial attempt to parry into another attack.
Jamenas raises his holy symbol, chanting.