As you near the lodge, you slow down to keep an eye out for the trap set. Even with knowing their is a trap in place you would have missed it were it not for the sharp eyes of Beck. Luckily it was found as the crossbow was a heavy crossbow with a string attached. Following the string you see that it was connected to the lodge and some pans on the roof. Cutting the string, you pick up the heavy crossbow.
Xan gives Beck a grateful thumbs up before disarming the trap and nodding to the others.
Gabryjel watches the proceedings carefully from his position by Aneira; his bow still out and ready for any surprises.
He is currently examining the trees around them intently; if the bandit was correct and his comrades are returning from hunting, they may even now be coming back to this lodge any time...
As you have bypassed the trap and routed the guards along the path, you are pretty sure that no one knows you are so close to the lodge. that combined with the falling snow, twilight, and light from inside, you are certain that you could walk around the lodge and not be noticed unless someone actually comes out to use the outhouse and spots you then.
Even though Anee dismissed the bandit to go his own way, the blood still boiled at the notion that the man would call her an angel in front of him. Granted the man did not know she was married and her husband was right there, but also he did not know how close he was to variel knocking him senseless and let him lay in the snow. Variel was glad that the talk was over and they could move on. He would never fault Anee for such a reaction from men, it just took will not to harm the men that were flirting with her.
Taking a few breathes to cool himself, VAriel released the frustration and focused on Anee's face to ease his anger. 5 minutes down the path he was under control again to whisper to Anee and the others. Nice job Anee getting as much information as you did. it cost us a potion of healing but the rewards will make up for it in the end. Beck, I am impressed you stabilized that man. I did not know you were a healer or had such a healing touch.
Gabryjel notices that Variel had moved back to him and Aneira and moves to give the elf his space.
Saying nothing for a moment, he looks over him after his words.
"Reckon those are fine words; but I'm wondering - what happens now?" he says looking between them.
"Just let me know what the plan is," he says looking between them and squinting over at the camp his weapon ready.
"We could go in quick and quiet-like if you'd like, or maybe make a noise to draw out a few lads to see what the commotion is, than pick 'em off..."
He frowns in thought.
"But if we do much to alert 'em, chances are they'll rally around any prisoners and use them for ransom, so this is going to take some thought..."
"Anyone got magic to do something on it, or do we try something else?" he adds the last looking around at the others.
"We could move round off the trail an' see if we can find a side entrance. Anybody gots a mirror what we can use to peek inna a window without outtin our faces us to it?" Beck asks, glancing first at Xanxan and then inquiring among the rest of the party. "If'n we can get in through a back way may be easier ta catch that Rohkar fella an' his crew off guard"
Listening to Beck and Gabe, Variel responds softly. It seems like we have two choices.one is to separate and enter at different points to confuse them and keep them from getting to any prisoners. Or we all go in at once and try to overwhelm one area quickly to move on to the next. If Xanxan can spy out the lodge better that may tell us what we are looking at for bandits and where the Lady may be located.
"Well, sneaking is one thing I've been doing right, so let me scope it out. Give me a bit, it's going to take a while to go the entire path around the house..." The gnome moves on without waiting for approval.
perception
stealth
Xanxan you start to creep along the outsides of the lodge peering into windows and looking around. You don't find any traps but you do manage to see almost 12 bandits on the lower level of the lodge. You can't see the upper floor that sits on top of the great room so there could be more up there. Also, you do not see any sign of the Lady that you have come to rescue.
Once on the far side of the lodge, you stop suddenly feeling like someone is looking at you. Blending into the shadows you remain perfectly still until the feeling passes. Looking around you notice a creature sitting in the trees by the bridge. It is composed entirely of ice with little wings and horns. It appears to have not seen you yet.
The creature is an ice mephit
Xanxan holds very still indeed. He's never seen a creature like that before, but he tries to memorize what it looks like so he can describe what it looks like to one more versed than he. He'd love to climb to a higher level, but climbing isn't his strong point and he'd lose the snow's cover.
When the ice creature appears to be looking away, he tries to slip around cautiously back to the others to give a full report.
Gabryjel watches Xanxan's attempts to stealthily move to the guards...
At which point he readies his weapon.
Even though Anee dismissed the bandit to go his own way, the blood still boiled at the notion that the man would call her an angel in front of him. Granted the man did not know she was married and her husband was right there, but also he did not know how close he was to Variel knocking him senseless and let him lay in the snow. Variel was glad that the talk was over and they could move on. He would never fault Anee for such a reaction from men, it just took will not to harm the men that were flirting with her.
Taking a few breaths to cool himself, Variel released the frustration and focused on Anee's face to ease his anger. 5 minutes down the path he was under control again to whisper to Anee and the others. Nice job Anee getting as much information as you did. it cost us a potion of healing but the rewards will make up for it in the end. Beck, I am impressed you stabilized that man. I did not know you were a healer or had such a healing touch.
Lifting her arms up, Aneira cupped Variel's face between her hands and locked her gaze with his, probing deep inside him with her light blue eyes.
Aneira had noticed the anger flash in Variel's eyes when Michael had been a little too familiar with her. The clearly besotted bandit was not an issue for her for she could see past such things. But she knew her husband very well and he did not like it when other males paid her too close of attention.
"My heart is yours. The boy knew no better and mistook me for a divine being." And she continued looking up at him, not breaking their connection.
At his compliment to her work with the questioning, Aneira smiled brightly at her husband but then the smile faded a little as she worried she had not done enough. "Thank you, husband. I should have asked a few more questions, but I did not think of them until after I dismissed the bandit. Next time I will do better."
Aneira stood silently watching as Xan moved to the lodge windows and checked out the area. She looked about as well, in hopes of spying a threat or anything out of the ordinary that he may have missed.
As Xanxan moves back to the group he is positive that the creature saw him this time but curiously it did not move or even register his presence. What this means your unsure of but you do know that it is not attacking you or giving you away. You make it back to the group safely without alerting the bandits however.
How he longed for their connections like this. The simple things of simply her holding his face in her hands. He would scour the earth for her if something were to happen to her and take horrific revenge on the culprit whose misfortune it was that caused her sorrow. Yet in these moment together he put all that away and claimed himself. I know you are mine and that you have given your heart to me. That still does not make me like it when others treat you so. I do not worry about what you would do as i trust you completely but I do not trust him. As for how you dealt with him you did well and hindsight always shows us what mo we could have done. Worry about it not as you did well enough in the time we had.
Xanxan returns, "I've been spotted by most curious creature... all the more curious because he doesn't seem to be warning the others..." he fills them in on it, and of the building's lay out, how many he saw, and more....
Xanxan returns, "I've been spotted by most curious creature... all the more curious because he doesn't seem to be warning the others..." he fills them in on it, and of the building's lay out, how many he saw, and more....
Gabryjel's brow furrows.
"Could you identify it Mister Xanxan? Where it was, or what it was... Was it another Fey, you reckon?" Garbryjel says quietly, hefting his bow.
He moves softly to the gnome, than pauses, turning to the others.
"If you want, I can try to move to flank it and maybe take it out; if it's another one of them damn dark Fey folk, I'll put a special arrow right in it's little skull," he adds, his eyes flicking to the others.
"Just say the word and I'll do what I can..." he adds.
"Pardon, Gab, but I just identified it as best I could." The gnome says, "And it may not be against us seeing as it didn't seem to give an alarm."
"Pardon, Gab, but I just identified it as best I could." The gnome says, "And it may not be against us seeing as it didn't seem to give an alarm."
It's "Gabe", not "Gab"; no, wait, I mean "Gabryjel" - oh never mind...
Gabryjel sighs a moment, thinking.
"Well hell, I don't know," he says in a hushed whisper.
He frowns a little.
"I wondered on if it was more Fey, on account of the fact we've seen enough of their folk already... but what if it was something else? Like a demon or a tree spirit?" he adds the last somewhat superstitiously, his tone quiet.
"I've heard tell that tree spirits can do bad things; play tricks on them that draw's near... most tree spirits are fairly neutral; some can be goodly sorts, like Oak, I hear... but others... others can be rotten to the core, like Old Man Willow..." he adds the last with a shudder.
"May The Woodsmen protect us," he mutters with a hushed whisper.
After a moment, he continues, his mind tacking somewhere else.
"Hey, ya'll remember earlier when we fought those damn Walkers down by the carriage?" he says, thinking of the idea of ghosts and spirits.
"That's been riling me for this whole time, 'cause it looked like they were there as some sort of trap or something. Well - if that's the case, someone put 'em there. But you don't just find Walkers moving about the woods, ya know?"
He glances around, thinking a moment.
"What I'm saying is - if something put 'em there, well - who'd be the one that made 'em for that purpose? I mean, druid-folk can't fashion Walkers as I know it," he says with a nod to Beck.
"I reckon that's the job of a priest; but we ain't see no signs of priests yet..."
"But if we did - that may be a bad thing, I reckon - 'cause a priest that makes Walker's got to be bad company to deal with."
He frowns.
"Now I may be all mixed up here, but I don't know... is there any other way to make un-dead to trap up back there to use after us; other than using the power of a dark priest? If so, I'm all ears, but I sure don't fancy fighting a priest," he says looking at the group nervously.
new map with labels and descriptions
Hearing Xanxan's report, Variel listens to Gabe before responding. If it hasn't attacked us or alerted the bandits to our presence I don't want to attack it first without knowing what it is. As far as undead goes Gabe, we haven't seen any since the carriages. Maybe it was a one time thing such as from a scroll. Maybe even one of those fey did it but I don't know for sure. A priest could have done it but so could any necromancer. We will just have to keep an eye open and react as best we can if we do run across one.
"I dunno 'bout trusting any kind o' ice creature. It may have ignored yea cause yea didn't try goin in, but we been fighting ice fey, an' it may be one. Prolly safer ta take it out, or goin through another door. I don't wanna get taken by surprise by it. We go that way, and Gabe, Take it out? See if Xan can get close enough for a sneak attack ta finish it off. Don't want it shoutin a warnin or sommat."
"Unless any ya'll think on goin another way with it." he adds with a shrug.
"Xan, didn't you say it was on the far side of the lodge? We'd have to go all the way around, all of us, to fight it, and such a fight would likely raise an alarm and our presence would be known for sure. I think we should just ignore it for now and sneak in as best we can and take them in small groups by surprise, rather than try to fight all of them at once. Especially if they're alerted and ready for us."
Xan nods at Venja, "I vote for leaving it be myself."
Gabryjel nods at their decision to leave a possible Fey alive for now.
Live and let live sounds fine with me…
Variel offers his own opinions, than.
We will just have to keep an eye open and react as best we can...
Gabrjyel nods again and after hearing Variel’s assessment of the situation, he agrees completely.
After all, Variel has already demonstrated his prowess as the group’s leader in combat and while others may be more skilled in medicine, magic, diplomacy or knowledge; the elf was clearly right about tactics!
He knew that if there were any threats inside that he could inform them how many enemies easily with finger gestures. He also knew that Xanxan could take out any traps on the door if he advanced to it; and when it was opened Variel could charge in with Beck and the others could use bows in the back to shoot any enemy as he himself fires at them from his position by the window which he would break once a fight started.
Kind of shameful to hide in the cover of a broken window; but you’re already hurt – and stealth and sniping is what you’re all about, so buck up! This is right up your alley…
"Right, I'll scout 'em out; I'll give you the tip on how many are inside; if things look good, we can go in hard," he says quietly.
Than Gabryjel moves the tree line (along Y axis at , than he dips down to , right outside the window to have a look inside.
His weapon out, he’s hoping to see inside the room and observe what is there and possibly relay the information back to the others with hand signals.
Aneira had listened as each member of their party gave their opinion on the strange Fey creature Xan had noticed up in the tree.
In softly-spoken voice, "I agree that if it is on the far side of the lodge that we leave it alone for now. It did not attack Xan and we do not know what its purpose is. We should concentrate on hitting the lodge while we still have the element of surprise. If you would draw Rohkar and his band out into the open, I can create a magical sound like I did earlier with Michael and his friends. I will await your instruction."
In softly-spoken voice, "We should concentrate on hitting the lodge while we still have the element of surprise... "
Gabryjel hears her and agrees with her in his heart as he moves along quietly.
Clearly, though, they'd need intelligence on what was inside.
As soon as he saw what he was able to see, he'd relay it back to the others and they'd be in a better position to act, no matter what they decided.
if Gabe moves, beck'll say in a quiet whisper, "Hold up mate. We aught make a plan first."
Xanxan listens to the exchange of ideas, but is a bit lost, "You want me to lure them out? or someone else? Should I unlock the door ahead of you or?"
"Really, there's he question o' which door ta use first. They might hear ya pickin the lock if we go this side by the dinin' room, so that's a risk there, but an advantage if they don't. Or if we enter the Front Door we'd have ta pass the Ice creature, so while they wont notice yea openin the door, but we got that thing ta contend with."
Gabryjel will look at the others before he moves off.
"All the best planning in the world won't change the fact that there's about a dozen lads in there that need killing fast," he says quickly.
He turns a watchful eye on the building, than back to his allies.
"Luck favors the bold, Beck; we charge in there hard and fast and we'll likely kill half of them before they get to their feet, and than we hit the rest - by the time reinforcements move in, they're already half dead," he says.
He thinks about the door for only a moment.
"I say we hit the east door first. If we try to go around as a whole company... well; not all of us may be as stealthy and any of us could alert them all to what's going on outside with a bad step."
He thinks about the east door and it being locked.
"As for the door? Doubt it'll be locked - I mean, who're they going to lock out, anyway? No one's in this woods but their own folk; they've had traps on the trail and they know their buddies are coming back soon, so why lock 'em out? But if they do lock the door, that's why we got Xanxan on the lock," he says with a shrug.
He looks at the others.
"Right, that said - I told you what I wanted to do. If there's something else that would be better, I'm all ears. But so far I haven't heard a better plan yet."
"Just let me know what's up and I'll head out."
As the group discuss their plan of attack, Aneira takes the time to find a place where she can secure the pack horse and travois -- safe away from prying eyes. It would be easier if she was not leading the horse as she attempted to aid her companions in the fight against the bandits.
Gabryjel looks at Aneira's action and nods at the wisdom with the horse.
He turns to her.
"Hey Miss Whitestorm - we've been tossing out ideas here; you heard mine."
He looks around.
"I'm ready to tap over there and start shooting alone if we need to," he says.
"What do you say to the plan? Should we head out with the plan on the table, or no?" he says, watching her, clearly ready to advance.
Once the horse was properly secured and hidden from view, Aneira returned and looked from Gabe to the others, stopping at Variel's face for a moment. She replied to Gabe's question in quiet voice,
"Gabe, I am not a skilled strategist, yet I feel your plan of attack has merit and could work, if the others agree upon it. If all agree, I shall ready my crossbow and shoot when the door is opened."
Gabryjel looks at Aneira for a moment.
"Begging your pardon, Miss Whitestorm - but the way I see it, saying nothing is agreement," he says with a somewhat tired voice.
"And the way I see it, we've heard from everyone who wants to talk already, I reckon."
He glances at the door for a moment, thinking.
"Alright, in that case I'll wait for Xanxan to do what he needs to at at the door. I'll be at the window ready to shoot through, as needed."
"As soon as the door's open, do what needs getting done; shoot fast before the melee fighters get toe-to-toe, though; shooting into combat ain't the best move unless you've trained for it, it can be tricky."
"The first few seconds that you do your thing I'll be holding back, doing nothing so I don't alert them I'm out there."
"Once they get into things with the others I'll take a shot at them that don't know I'm there, it may give me an edge if they're not expecting it and if so, it could offer some extra protection," he says.
"Plus, if I'm shooting from the window I'll have a little extra cover; I'm going to need it, I reckon - 'cause we're all out of healing spells and such," he says glancing at his bandage with a helpless shrug.
At this point Gabryjel salutes her and moves around to flank at the window.
Xanxan nods and slips towards the door Gabe wanted him to go to.
Gabryjel holds his position at the window; as soon as Xanxan swings the door open the range fighters can shoot into the room hard and fast.
Than the melee fighters hop in and wipe out the rest... hopefully.
When reinforcements come charging in he'll be hidden outside; ready to do what he needs to - they won't see him (he hopes) and than he'll shoot into their ranks hard and fast and when that wave is thinned he'll charge around to the east door and follow his crew inside.
"A'ight. Works for me. We can get in distance ta rush em and drop what of em we can." once I hear about the door, I'll know if I can break it down or Xan needs to pick the lock, if there is one.
Venja quietly in the rear casts "Mage Armor" on herself just in case there is a rear guard come up on them or some other scenario in which she might get near combat.
Aneira leaves the wooden shield strapped to her back for the moment. She requires her hands to work her weapon.
Loading her light crossbow, she waits to hear/see instruction to shoot from Ryu or Xan. Her eyes take in her surroundings as well.
In a coordinated effort Both Xanxan and Gabe open their respective avenues into the lodge at the same time as Venja casts mage armor on herself to protect her from any possible engagement in melee. Once the way forward is open those with ranged weapons fire into the unsuspecting bandits. Once the opening salvo is done, those more melee inclined move in to protect the ranged attackers and to throw confusion into the midst.
Surprise round good guys (standard or move actions only):
Variel rushes forward with enchanted blade and pierces one of the surprised bandits.
While the bandits are still surprised, Venja gets off a shot at the closest bandit with a ray of frost.