Ivo and Terri quickly find places to hide before the invisibility spell wears off, but eventually, the spell does as the pair find themselves alone in the fort with the Stag Lord's minions. The bandit mill about the fort talking about recent jobs and conquests, drinking a bit, but not too much.
Garethane continues to sit atop the tower, observing the situation.
You sit ready to move in a moment's notice but have yet to hear anything.
Ivo scrambles up the wall with incredible alacrity and looks for a box or barrel to hide in, or debris to hide behind at worst.
Doing their best, Ivo and Terri remain hidden throughout the remainder of the daylight hours while Garethane continues to perch upon the wall.
After the dinner hour, activity begins to slow down around the fort eventually dwindling to a couple of guards wandering around the fort.
Not exactly sure where to go, Terri begins making her way to some sleeping bandits with the intention of putting them out of the fight before it begins.
Sneaking around, and narrowly avoiding being seen by one of Stag Lord's bandits, Terri finds Ivo.
Ivo whispers, "Okay, now what? Cutting throats first?"
"Thin the herd as much as we dare then open the gates. Maybe if we start away from them, we'll get lucky and when the bodies are discovered, they'll leave the gate less guarded," Terri whispers back as she quietly draws her sword. "Who knows, maybe we'll get really lucky and only have those that are still awake left by the time we're ready to open the gates."
"Besides, they don't seem too bright. The guards are just waltzing about all on their own. They really should be more careful," she adds, her wide-eyed expression doing nothing to hide the dangerous gleam in her eyes, nor the predatory grin pulling at the corners of her mouth, "what if one of them were to get hurt, or worse, fall under some fey trickster's spell?"
"You wanna work in tandem on this or split up?"
"I think we'd be better off sticking together. At the least we'll have a better chance of taking care of any problems before they grow into big problems."
Terri turns to go back the way she came and motions for Ivo to follow her to and up the stairs she'd hidden under.
Terri sneaks up the stair and peers into the keep. She sees one bandit, the man who appeared to be in charge sleeping in the corner of the room and another particularly large, lumbering sort walking around, albeit yawning.
Terri waves for Ivo to backup and sneaks back down the stairs enough for her to see over the landing and still have some cover to duck behind if the large man started turning her way.
Ivo tries to sneak up but, of course, fails.
"Stupid watch duty." the large man complains in a tone that betrays the man's lack of intelligence. He stops briefly, almost acting as if he had heard something, but then continues to lumber back and forth in the room.
Seeing that the lummox wasn't going to sleep anytime soon, she thinks about trying to charm him into doing the dirty work for them, but things better of it. She waves Ivo back down the stairs and points to the corner of the keep where they could have a little privacy.
"Too risky going after the leader with the big lummox in the way. Better we find less watched prey. Care to lead the way?"
Garethane maintains his quiet overwatch, still and unmoving as the owl, attempting to keep track of his teammates.
"Back down for now."
The gnome vanishes silently down the stairs and into the dangerous depths of the fortress, looking for anyone who might be asleep.
Terri nods and follows closely behind.
Terri and Ivo sneak around to the front of the keep, doing their best to stay out of sight of the two patrolling bandits.
Just as the pair are about to enter the keep proper, one of the guards shouts out, "Hey, who in the Nine Hells are you!" a shout loud enough it is heard by the other waiting outside the gates.
vs. 16
vs. 16 - Gotcha!
Initiative Order
Terri - 25
Bassius - 23+ (2 Rounds to the Fort Gates)
Ivo - 23
???? - 18+
Razarak - 18 (2 Rounds to the Fort Gates)
Bandit B1 - 12
Bandit B2 - 10
Garethane - 7
Tove - 4 (2 Rounds to the Fort Gates)
This charm makes a humanoid creature regard you as its trusted friend and ally (treat the target’s attitude as friendly). If the creature is currently being threatened or attacked by you or your allies, however, it receives a +5 bonus on its saving throw.
The spell does not enable you to control the charmed person as if it were an automaton, but it perceives your words and actions in the most favorable way. You can try to give the subject orders, but you must win an opposed Charisma check to convince it to do anything it wouldn’t ordinarily do. (Retries are not allowed.) An affected creature never obeys suicidal or obviously harmful orders, but it might be convinced that something very dangerous is worth doing. Any act by you or your apparent allies that threatens the charmed person breaks the spell. You must speak the person’s language to communicate your commands, or else be good at pantomiming.
Terri abandons any attempt at stealth and goes for audacity and guile. Magic weaves into her words as she tries to spin a story that sounded plausible.
"Oh thank Desna above! You have freed me from this curse. Evil fey tricksters with vile senses of humor are about! They cursed me so that I could only talk if spoken to. There's a group of bandits coming to help Open the gates! Quickly! I"m sure they won't dare to attack a strong, handsome man like yourself!"
There's no way he'll buy this, she thinks, wincing at the scatter brainedness of the lie.
Ivo scoots around the corner and uses the barrels for cover.
"Evil fey, oh that's just horrible." the charmed bandit says, seemingly more interested in acts other than murder at the moment.
The remaining bandit moves over, sword drawn, before being intercepted by the charmed bandit.
Angered by being blocked by his friend, the bandit growls, "What do you mean by bandits. Who's group is it that's coming?"
Initiative Order
Done - Terri - 25
Bassius - 23+ (2 Rounds to the Fort Gates)
Done - Ivo - 23
Done - ???? - 18+
Done - Razarak - 18 (90 ft to the Fort Gates)
Done - Bandit B1 - 12
Done - Bandit B2 - 10
Garethane - 7
Tove - 4 (2 Rounds to the Fort Gates)
Hearing the commotion within the walls, Tove charges as fast as she can towards the entrance to the fort, bow at the ready and eager for an opportunity to use it.
"I did not catch her name, but said that she'd been befuddled by the fey as well," she continues to lie, weaving her magic into her words. She only hoped that they would open the gates once she had them in her spell.
This charm makes a humanoid creature regard you as its trusted friend and ally (treat the target’s attitude as friendly). If the creature is currently being threatened or attacked by you or your allies, however, it receives a +5 bonus on its saving throw.
The spell does not enable you to control the charmed person as if it were an automaton, but it perceives your words and actions in the most favorable way. You can try to give the subject orders, but you must win an opposed Charisma check to convince it to do anything it wouldn’t ordinarily do. (Retries are not allowed.) An affected creature never obeys suicidal or obviously harmful orders, but it might be convinced that something very dangerous is worth doing. Any act by you or your apparent allies that threatens the charmed person breaks the spell. You must speak the person’s language to communicate your commands, or else be good at pantomiming.
"I saw them coming just before the fey magicked me here. I would have opened the gates myself, but..." She looks down as her thin arms and raises an eyebrow at the guard she was trying to ensorcell. "I was about to try waking one of the men inside when you called out to me and broke my curse. Would you be so kind as to help me let the bandits in so they can help hunt down these evil tricksters."
[i]Okay, this is starting to sound a little more believable.[/ooc]
Ivo quietly draws his sap and remains hidden for now, waiting to see if the gambit pays off.
Garret, seeing Terri still talking to the guards draws back his bow and waits. If one of them swings at either her or Ivo, they'll receive an arrow for their trouble.
Bassius spurs Emperor Stavian forward towards the gates alongside the cleric, drawing his saber as he does so.
Bassius, Tove, and Razarak head toward the gates, Bassius atop his mount, Tove by foot, and Raz by foot at the conclusion of casting his spell.
Garethane shifts out of his owl form and trains his bow on bandits engaged with Terri.
Terri's spell fails to take hold of the second bandit as he shakes his head. "The gate's closed, how the hell you manage to get in here anyway?" he asks, not lowering his blade.
Glancing over her shoulder Terri sees two more bandits approaching. Likewise, Ivo and Garethane see the same pair.
Initiative Order Round 2
Done - Terri - 25
Bassius - 23+ (20 ft to the Fort Gates)
Ivo - 23
Bandits from the Fort- 18+
Razarak - 18 (90 ft to the Fort Gates)
Bandit B1 (Charmed)- 12
Bandit B2 - 10
Garethane - 7
Tove - 4 (60 ft to the Fort Gates)