Abaos |
Abaos looks slightly concerned.
He pulls Awn over to the side, quick, and whispers in his ear.
"I'm not sure we're ready for a fight yet. We don't know much about these particular bandits. Fighting them and letting them run, well, that's more likely to piss them off than any real protection. Hell, if they're tied to any group, well, things could turn bad real quick. We're only 6. Only so much we can do here. I don't want to say we should just give up, but we need more information, and quick, if they're going to be here tomorrow. "
He turns to Oleg. "Mr Oleg, what can you tell us beyond the situation here? How big is this badint group, just the ten, or larger? Who's in charge? What type of weapons do they have? Are there other groups, factions, etc, or just these guys? Anything more you can give would be really helpful."
DM_Scholar |
Guthruc missed with both the daggers, sorry if my narration wasn't clear. I'm using these thrush stats for the typical bird- in the future players who wish to shank or bludgeon a bird can refer back to the stats to see if they hit, without waiting for me. This should speed things up.
Guthruc roars his triumph to the sky, before peeling the shattered remains of the bird off his club. Iorskan is immediately at his side, drawn by the scent of fresh-clubbed finch. [ooc]At least it wasn't a mockingbird.
Oleg gets up. He's smiling. "I think that orc is growing on me. C'mon," he gestures to those who had expressed interest in tactics, "I'll give you guys the grand tour. I'm not much of a fighter myself, so I'll leave the strategizing to you."
If this was a meatspace campaign, we'd roll play our way through all of these locations, but for the sake of time (It could take days.) I'm going to just copy paste information from the book.
A1. Market Yard: This open area is where trade takes
place. The two tables near the fire pit are used to
display wares and serve food to visitors, while bulky
trade goods are offloaded into the storage pen.
A2. Guesthouse: Oleg rents out the beds in this
guesthouse to anyone who wishes to stay the night
at a rate of 5 sp a bed per night. A rustic breakfast
and filling dinner is included in that price.
A3. Stable: Oleg keeps his jittery horse Claptrap here.
He rents out the other stalls to visitors’ steeds at a
rate of 2 sp per stall per night—that price includes a
day’s worth of water and feed and a complimentary
rub down for the horse.
A4. Storage Pen: This fenced area has a wooden roof to
keep off most of the rain and snow—trade goods like furs and other goods are stored here until
enough build up to warrant a trip to the city to sell
them off. The pen is currently empty, as Oleg’s been
forced to turn over his stock to the bandits.
A5. Middens: Three 3-foot-deep composting pits and
middens.
A6. Main Hall: This squat but solid wooden building is
Oleg and Svetlana’s home and the storeroom for the
trading post. The double doors leading out into the
market yard can be barred but not locked.
A7. Dining Room: This is a comfortable room with a
few chairs and a table—the Levetons use this room
primarily as a dining room.
A8. Office: This room is where Oleg keeps his ledgers
and meets with important visitors—in theory. As
of yet, no one of importance has bothered visiting
the trading post.
A9. Stockroom: This room is used to store the trading
post’s stock. The stock currently consists of a suit
of leather armor, a heavy wooden shield, two hand
axes, five javelins, a longbow, two dozen arrows, a
scythe, two spears, two potions of cure light wounds,
a potion of shield of faith +2, two vials of antitoxin,
six torches, two weeks of trail rations, a number
of animal furs worth a total of 120 gp, and a chest
containing 1,080 cp, 577 sp, and 140 gp.
A10. Storeroom: This room contains two barrels of
drinking water, a half-full barrel of lantern oil,
three common lamps, a dozen candles, a week’s
worth of firewood, a hooded lantern, 70 feet of
hemp rope, a tent, and enough food (mostly cheese,
hard bread, and dried venison) to last for 2 weeks.
A11. Bedroom: This modest bedroom is where the
Levetons sleep.
During the grand tour you meet Svetlana, who I haven't really fleshed out in my mind yet. I'm going to go and roll dice to determine general personality traits and quirks.
DM_Scholar |
"Mr Oleg, what can you tell us beyond the situation here? How big is this badint group, just the ten, or larger? Who's in charge? What type of weapons do they have? Are there other groups, factions, etc, or just these guys? Anything more you can give would be really helpful."
You talk while he's showing you around. "Here's what I know. First time these bandits visited, there were a dozen of them. They've sent less every other time. Last month there were only five. I think they're letting their guard down . . . the hope is that they only send a couple this time, but, you know, 'pray for the best and plan for the worst.' As to who's in charge, I don't have a name. Two of them seem to give orders, one was some crazy nutjob with an axe. She only showed up the first time, though. The other guy's always tagged along, a quiet guy in a hood, with a bow. Hopefully 'tax day' has gotten so routine that neither of them show up."
"Svet thinks, and I agree, that their camp is probably at least a day away. They always show up early in the morning, and they're always in a hurry to be gone. But it can't be too far, or they wouldn't bother coming at all."
Ozara "Ozzy" |
Ozzy ponders between shoveling overly-large spoonfuls of stew into her mouth, her cheeks bulging. Should we try to follow them back to their camp? she asks through a full mouth.
Guthruc Shic'la |
Guthruc looks between Iorskan and the smashed Thrush. He cuts the bird in half with a hunting knife and collects those that missed their mark. He gives the smaller half to Iorskan.
Guthruc like small dragon
Guthruc, after finishing his half of the thrush, walks over to Iorskan,
"while others wander with puny man, shall Guthruc and Small dragon have competition? Small dragon name event"
Bright Awn |
Awn considers Abaos and Ozzy.
"We could let them take Oleg's "tax" and then follow them."
Awn looks around again at the trading post.
"But there may not be many of them. I guess I'm more thinking if we hem them in, let Ior and Guthruc charge them, perhaps with Mr Blinky and myself, then Shemeska, Oz and Abaos could pepper them from above. Then we can capture them here, on our terms and find out what we need without heading to their possibly guarded camp."
Awn looks to Oleg.
"Are you up for defending your fortress Oleg? And Svet? We could rig some simple traps and hindrances before they get here? Or perhaps a diversion - that chest there, and we say we have a special "tax" waiting for them, and we....Oleg... try to trick them into opening it here."
Folks, I'm easy either way. We can just as easily use critters like Mr Blinky and Ior to scout the camp. Though Ior might do something foolish.... Oz - what are your capabilities, and just what are the eight foot sticks that appear over your shoulders? Longspears?
Iorskan |
Iorskan happily slapped his tail on the ground, bloody bits stuck between his teeth as he chewed. He looked up at Guthric with gleaming eyes. ”Nobles say murder is bad. But murder tastes good! Let’s have a murder bird contest. Eat-murder the most wins!” He spread his wings out and beat them mightily, causing him to barely rise off the ground.
Ior do something foolish? Preposterous. Now if you will excuse him, he and an orc need to have a bird eating contest.
Guthruc Shic'la |
Guthruc slams the end of his greatclub on the ground, similar to gandalg slaming his staff on the ground leaning in closer to Iorskan.
Guthruc think bird kill competition sound fun
Guthruc then charges at the nearest thrush, swinging his greatclub with amazing force.
Attack roll against bird: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17
Damage: 1d10 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Try keep up!
Guthruc Shic'la |
*Gandalf
Ozara "Ozzy" |
Oz - what are your capabilities, and just what are the eight foot sticks that appear over your shoulders? Longspears?
A longspear and 3 javelins. 1st level spells are Mage Armor and Enlarge Person (both intended to be used on Mr. Blinky).
Ozara "Ozzy" |
Also, Summon Monster SLA (standard action, 1 minute duration), but I have to dismiss Mr. Blinky before I can use it.
Ozara "Ozzy" |
"Are you up for defending your fortress Oleg? And Svet? We could rig some simple traps and hindrances before they get here? Or perhaps a diversion - that chest there, and we say we have a special "tax" waiting for them, and we....Oleg... try to trick them into opening it here."
Ozzy considers this as she chew another large mouthful. Thankfully, this time she swallows before adding If they're on horses, maybe we could scare the horses, then trip them when they try to run away. I could make Mr. Blinky real big!
Mechanically, I don't think this would work, but Ozzy is convinced it will.
Abaos |
"But there may not be many of them. I guess I'm more thinking if we hem them in, let Ior and Guthruc charge them, perhaps with Mr Blinky and myself, then Shemeska, Oz and Abaos could pepper them from above. Then we can capture them here, on our terms and find out what we need without heading to their possibly guarded camp."
Abaos considers this proposition. "Well, everything in life is a gamble," he says finally. "Besides, maybe axe lady will decide we aren't worth the effort after this?" He smiles ruefully.
Abaos laughs, picks up an acorn,and says "You know, I bet there's a ton of these in the forest here. Grab some, fill up a barrell, and roll 'em towards our 'friends;' well, there's a viable trip hazard, there. Bluff, let them know we've got a larger force out there in the woods, looking for the rest of the gang; just gotta scare them away."
Bright Awn |
Seems that Guthruc and Ior are chasing birds, and Abaos, Shemeska, Ozzie and Awn are discussing plans with Oleg. Let's see what Shem and Oleg say, and then formulate a strategy based on what we can do to fortify/trap in the time remaining before the bandits arrive.
Iorskan |
Charge Hit: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 5 + 2 = 10
Damage: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
Charge Hit: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 5 + 2 = 18
Damage: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
Bite: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 2 = 13
Damage: 1d4 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
The orc was scaring the birds! Iorskan ran after him, trailing behind. The birds rose in the air and the little dragon tried to follow, reaching for them with claws as sharp as daggers.
Shemeska |
"I agree with Awn. We can find out where they are based by asking a captive, and it will split their forces." Shemeska looks over the fort. "The only thing I can think of is to use the wagon and the bench tables to block them into the fort after they enter."
Use the table to block between A2 and A6. Use furniture or boxes to block the smaller holes between buildings. Use the wagon to block the entrance once combat starts. Maybe a ramp and a release rope?
"We can have our strong friends hit them close and hard, and we can have everyone else on rooftops to pepper them. Oleg, do you happen to have any pints of oil?"
Bright Awn |
Room A10 has half a barrel of lantern oil...Check through the "Locations at Oleg's" spoiler upthread to see what there is...
Bright Awn |
Awn smiles again.
"Good ideas Shemeska. I... admit to being unfamiliar with much of what I see, but a trap is a trap!"
Trying not to come up with too much engineering/tech stuff, my Int is only 10 and I'm part tree...
Guthruc Shic'la |
Meanwhile, at the bird hunting competition:
Guthruc looks over his shoulder and realizes that the birds are fleeing behind him, causing Iorskan to miss many of the birds flying away. Guthruc grins, an evil look in his eye. He charges the next bird, greatclub held high, and ready to kill.
Charging attack roll: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
damage: 1d10 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15
Afterward, Guthruc spins around toward Iorskan and the birds nearest him. He unleashes a terrible roar to ensure every bird is airborne, or nearly so, and flapping for it's life.
Iorskan |
Bite with charge and Reach: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Damage: 1d4 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Growling in frustration, Iorskan leapt at the nearest bird, reaching as far as he could. As he leapt he futilely flapped his wings to get that extra bit of air...
Bright Awn |
Awn watches the orc and draconic gambolling about decimating the local thrush community with bemusement and a slight bit of concern.
"I'm thinking that those two will be hard to keep quiet when we need them to be. Can we make them some food to eat while the ambush is on?"
Guthruc Shic'la |
Guthruc, enjoying the new challenge of airborne prey, swings his massive club directly overhead, in an attempt to catch a thrush that was flying too close to the blood bath.
Attack roll against bird: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13
Damage: 1d10 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8
DM_Scholar |
"Hey!" shouts Svetlana Leveton, coming out of her house, "leave the birds alone! Like her husband, Svetlana is a middle aged human, but where her husband walks stiffly and groans whenever he's sitting down or standing up, it's obvious that Svet still seems full of boundless energy, which she's putting to use now shooing a dragon and a monstrous berserker away from her birds. "What have they ever done to you?" she asks Guthruc, right in his face, bewildered and offended.
"Ah, Svet, these are -"
"The Swordlord's sell swords, yes, I can see the tree and the dragon. Oi! Tree! Would it kill you to keep an eye on your dragon? And you! Tusky! Don't encourage it. These are birds, not toys. There are plenty of sticks to play with, you don't have to go eating our birds. Honestly, Oleg, you make people keep their dogs in leashes but you just let them... " she trails off, visibly frustrated.
Guthruc Shic'la |
Guthruc, irritated that one would be so bold as to stand up to him, an orc, grabs a dead bird, and walks over to her. He proceeds to look her directly in the eyes, at an uncomfortable distance and replies:
"Or what? Send Guthruc away? Who protect city then? Bird is prey,
prey is eaten.
Guthruc then, at without breaking eye contact or changing proximity, rips a bite out of the dead thrush in his hand, clearly to antagonize her.
about now, Guthruc connects the dots with the comparison to a dog, and without taking time to finish his bite, He shouts, spraying carrion in her vicinity.
"Also! you compare Guthruc to dog!? dog who play with stick and tied on rope?
Guthruc lifts svet into the air by her collar, slamming her against the nearest wall.
Dog stupid. Guthruc raised by worg, strongest creature. Guthruc home, destroy by worg. Guthruc kill dog as easy as man step on bug. puny woman less than dog, puny woman dirt! PUNY WOMAN NOTHING!!
Guthruc tosses svet to the ground and throws the remainder of the thrush at her.
intimidate: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Iorskan |
They are a good team :)
Iorskan landed with a thud, sans bird. He stared at the woman as she berated him, his orc, a fact which really got to him, as he now liked Guthric, and her husband...all at the same time! His anger swelled. Did she not know that he was a dragon? Something to be feared? Respected? Dare he say, worshipped? She should kneel at his feet, he thought. Or at lie at his feet, for kneeling she’d still be bigger than him.
For a moment he thought about telling her off. But no...she didn’t deserve to hear his voice. No! He would get back at her in the cruelest way he knew how. He would ignore her.
He spun around with all of the grace and poise he could muster Acrobatics: 1d20 ⇒ 11, walked over to the nearest pile of feathers, plopped down, and started picking at the remains.
Edit: Posted at same time as Guthric
He stopped though as Guthric exploded in rage. He turned his head to watch in interest to see whether his orc would eat her or not.
Bright Awn |
Awn whips his Elven curve blade out of its sheath and waves it across and in front of Guthruc.
Intimidate vs Guthruc: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19
Immediate Action Second Sight, +1 to Intimidate.
"Guthruc, stand down or I'll remove your head!"
Then, over his shoulder....
"I do apologise Svetlana. I will attempt to control good Guthruc..."
Iorskan |
Seeing Guthric yelling and Awn waving his sword around, Iorskan surged to his feet and roared as loud as he could.
Intimidate with size penalty: 1d20 + 7 - 4 ⇒ (3) + 7 - 4 = 6
Quite proud of himself he lay back down and went back to eating.
Guthruc Shic'la |
Guthruc, frustrated that he must either give up or die, he grabs the blade of the sword with his bare hands and shoves it aside. He snarls at both Awn and Svetlana, but walks away. He picks up another bird and sits aside Iorskan. He leans over to Iorskan and whispers
"Guthruc and Small dragon finish later"
Guthruc Begins to tear apart the bird, glaring at Svetlana as he eats it.
DM_Scholar |
I figured that we'd have a negative reaction from Guthruc. xD
"Guthruc, stand down or I'll remove your head!"
Oleg runs forward. "Guthruc! What the hell?!" He seems to have forgotten his fear of the orc in his concern.
Guthruc, surprised by the number of people shouting at him, lets go of Svetlana and steps away. Oleg is hurrying to her side, to make sure she's all right.
intimidate: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Svetlana, unlike her husband, does not seem cowed by the orc in the slightest. "You're done? Good. My back hurts, I wonder why, so I'm going to go and drink a healing potion from our private stock. You owe me fifty gold pieces."
Oleg is quick to volunteer. "I'll grab it, you should sit down-"
"I'll be fine. Really. It's all right." She starts to limp away, but turns to face Guthruc instead. "You aren't going to make it very far in life threatening people. I suggest you clean up your act- people are watching you, and they're hoping you screw up. And every time you do, it makes life harder for every orc, half-orc, goblinoid or giant that comes after."
And with that bit of unsolicited life advice, she's gone.
Abaos |
Abaos smiles, and slowly lets out a long whistle.
"Seeing that little escapade, makes me wonder why I ever left home! he exclaims.
He slowly turns to Awn, Shemeska, and Ozzy. "Looks like we've had some good ideas, and a lot of adventure, but we need to get to work if we're going to be prepared for the bandits tomorrow. I'm going to collect some acorns to use a trip material. I'll be back. Ya'll get working on constructing that net."
With that, he walks away, but not before clapping Bright Awn on the back. "Keep 'em out of trouble, bud. Thank you. And take it easy, we'll need you tomorrow."
Bright Awn |
"Iorska! Mighty friend, our lucky Abaos is acorn hunting. Can you keep him safe?" Awn calls out. Then to Abaos:
"It is wise that none leave the fortress alone. Always in pairs at least."
And:
"Thank you."
Abaos |
Abaos nods. "Of course. Follow, friend!
We're not going far, just enough to collect a ton of acorns, though we'll stay in sight of the compound if at all possible. Not certain what I need to roll to find and collect acorns, though.
DM_Scholar |
I'll say that you can find as many acorns as you need. It wouldn't make sense to make you roll something when the choice is cosmetic ;you could pack a barrel full of dirt and it would still make just as good a tripping hazard.
In unrelated news: I'm giving your party a free wand of celestial healing, in light of you not having any actual healers on the team.
I'd like everyone to list the specific preparations their character does or doesn't make, and then we'll skip to tomorrow.
Guthruc Shic'la |
Guthruc mostly does physical training; running, punching trees, strangling animals, and the likes.
Guthruc Shic'la |
While training outside the walls of the city, Guthruc has a stroke of genius: he would build a trap. While he forgets to mention it to anyone, he constructs this trap upon the main path leading to the city from the Greenbelt. It's the kind of trap that only requires a rope, and it drags whoever steps upon it into a nearby tree.
survival to make trap: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
He has built this trap before, but usually for wild animals while he was sleeping, so that he could have breakfast in the morning. Making it for humans provided a challenge.
Iorskan |
Iorskan spends the day practicing flying. This means climbing up the walls and jumping off, and then gliding down. He often roars as he does this, in anticipation for when he will inherit the sky.
Bright Awn |
Ehrmagherd. Guthruc's (quite well made) trap will likely ruin any chance at this ambush working inside the fort...though it might get one of them to go for a swing...
I'm out for a bit this morning, I'll post my day's preparations as soon as I get to computer and look at the map of the fort properly...
Ozara "Ozzy" |
Ozzy suggests that instead of making the trap to ensnare a single person, they should set it up to pull a tripline taut across the road, and that they should connect the trap's trigger only after the bandits have passed, so that they can use it to keep anyone from escaping. Someone will have to wait out there to arm it. Ozzy has a +4 in stealth (and Mr. Blinky has a +6, but no hands), can anyone beat that? I imagine Bright Awn would have a bonus to hiding among trees...
I also just remembered that Ozzy has a +5 in Craft: weapons. Would that allow her to get at least one of the Ballistas working in time?
Bright Awn |
From my reading of Guthruc's post, he put it there without telling anybody, so we are all inside preparing while he is outside "helping" by preparing a trap. That will completely alert our foes and make all of our preparations pointless. Yay! ;)
Guthruc Shic'la |
that is, if they think it's the traders and not some other outside force
Abaos |
In what may be a moot point, Abaos has a +7 to Stealth. And will gladly volunteer to sit out and arm it.
Abaos collects two barrels full of acorns. After this, he'll attempt to help build a simple rope trap with a net depending from it laid across the ground that when pulled creates a wall of brush and vines to spook the horses. He'll then move the cart to beside A3 so that it can be innocuously pushed to hem in the bandits when it comes. Afterwards, he'll play a small card game with himself and whoever else wishes to join him.