Beltzer uses Barkskin on Arlan. He guesses Arlan might night it going toe to toe with .. well plants.
"Ugh what do I do...? Do I hit it or pick it?"
Varin rushes forward to lash out at the closest creature.
Varin rushes forward to lash out at the closest creature.
The vine snakes out, which barely misses Varin.
The further brambleblight launches a volley of thorns at Varin.
Brambleblight red = AC 20 touch 12
Brambleblight blue = AC 15 touch 8
Arlan = 52/52 HP & AC 21 +Barkskin?
Beltzer = 35/40 HP & AC 16
Lys = 44/44 HP & AC 18
Nerak = 32 HP & AC 14 ** blinded by the light
Varin = 50-10-10-12= 18/51 HP & AC 20
Lys gruntingly moves past Varin, and notices him fighting a shrub. "Damn! I think that place should fire its gardener!", she shouts with a grin, as she crouches, firing a bolt at the shrub in front of Varin.
A bolt slams into the shrub's trunk, sticking out ineffectively. "Ugh! Arlan! We need your moonshine flasks!", she shouts back at the alchemist, throwing a wide grin on her face, as she pushes the reloading lever.
Not with Varin! In the way. 'Sides, it didn't seem to do much. Maybe this'll work!
Arlan lunges up next to his friend, drawing his blade and hacking at the plant.
Beltzer draws away some of the damage that Varin has sustained.
Beltzer moves up shielded by his two stronger companions and helps the other one as well with his reserve of spirit magic. He uses Barkskin once more on Varin this time.
Varin bellowed in pain and anger as he lashed out once again, swinging with all his might
Varin bellowed in pain and anger as he lashed out once again, swinging with all his might
The vine snakes out, which barely misses Varin.
The further brambleblight launches a volley of thorns at Varin.
Brambleblight red = AC 20 touch 12
Brambleblight blue = AC 15 touch 8
Arlan = 52/52 HP & AC 21 +Barkskin = 23
Beltzer = 35-5 = 30/40 HP & AC 16
Lys = 44/44 HP & AC 18
Nerak = 32 HP & AC 14 ** blinded by the light
Varin = 18+5-13= 10/51 HP & AC 20 +Barkskin = 22
Lys grits her teeth, as she sees the bolt sticking into the shrub. "Smart girl, crossbow to kill shrubs. Next thing, I'll be quail hunting with a waraxe.", she mutters to herself half-heartedly, before shrugging, and firing two more bolts at the shrub.
Two more bolts fly towards the bush, one flying harmlessly through the branches, the second sticking into it, sending few twigs flying. "Scheisse!", she grunts in Dwarvish, raising her crossbow once more.
Arlan strikes again, hacking furiously at the plant.
I...hate...this...f@@*ing...place!
Lys grits her teeth, as she sees the bolt sticking into the shrub. "Smart girl, crossbow to kill shrubs. Next thing, I'll be quail hunting with a waraxe.", she mutters to herself half-heartedly, before shrugging, and firing two more bolts at the shrub.
Arlan strikes again, hacking furiously at the plant. "I...hate...this...f&%$ing...place!"
The further brambleblight launches a volley of thorns at Arlan.
Brambleblight red = AC 20 touch 12
Brambleblight blue = AC 15 touch 8
Arlan = 52-8=46/52 HP & AC 21 +Barkskin = 23
Beltzer = 35-5 = 30/40 HP & AC 16
Lys = 44/44 HP & AC 18
Nerak = 32 HP & AC 14 ** blinded by the light
Varin = 18+5-13= 10/51 HP & AC 20 +Barkskin = 22
Lys bends in two, letting out a racking cough. "Oh... the Hells *cough*... is that!", she shouts as she moves forward, firing a shot towards the last brambly annoyance.
Beltzer seeing the pain all around heals himself from taking the damage the others have been sustaining. I hope there's not much more of these things, the thorns hurt quite a bit As he takes in more of his comrades pain.
Then he heals Varin with a hex.
Thanks, Bel. Here, this'll help. Arlan draws forth a smoking vial and downs it. His bones crack as they grow, and his muscles thicken.
Lys bends in two, letting out a racking cough. "Oh... the Hells *cough*... is that!", she shouts as she moves forward, firing a shot towards the last brambly annoyance.
The brambleblight radiates a palpable aura of rot and decay in a 40-foot radius. The sickness passes in a few seconds
The brambleblight blue launches a volley of thorns at Arlan.
Brambleblight red = AC 20 touch 12
Brambleblight blue = AC 15 touch 8
Arlan = 52-12-13 = 27/52 HP & AC 21 (w/o shield) +Barkskin +Mutie = 21
Beltzer = 27/40 HP & AC 16
Lys = 44/44 HP & AC 18
Nerak = 32 HP & AC 14 ** blinded by the light
Varin = 32/51 HP & AC 20 +Barkskin = 22
Gah, bloody plants. What next? Bel, you'll keep me alive, right? Good.
Arlan moves forward, coughing and choking, before he hacks at the plant.
Lys continues her ongoing barrage towards the plants, as she fires the last two bolts of her magazine towards the antagonistic shrubbery.
As the last bolt flies out with an audible click, she swears quietly, before reaching to grab another magazine from her belt.
Beltzer continues to draw the wounds from his comrades hoping for a swift end to the creatures.
You slowly prune the brambleblight and finally uproot it. Behind the dead weeds, you find a large wooden chest atop the eastern mound is locked, and any attempts to move it fail, as it is actually built into the hillside. Opening (or destroying) it reveals an empty interior, but you finally notice a false bottom in the chest. Beneath the false bottom, a warped wooden ladder descends inside the hill to a 10-foot-square chamber containing the Council of Thorns’ hidden armory. Although several of the items once stored here have decayed or rotted away, the cache still contains a +1 ironwood breastplate, Gorum’s Thorn, a +1 flaming scimitar, (10) +1 orc bane arrows, a single orc slaying arrow, a scroll of barkskin, a scroll of call lightning, a scroll of summon nature’s ally IV, a wand of flaming sphere (9 charges), a wand of greater magic fang (12 charges), an ironwood crown with a stylized thorn motif (worth 250 gp), a ceremonial gem-encrusted cudgel (worth 150 gp), 3 pp, 178 gp, 605 sp, and 2,125 cp.
After filling your boots with loot, you return to the large hall with the dead brambleblight. Then, the kind old elven woman Ewigga “guardian of the Vault of Thorns” reveals herself to be green hag druid. She ambushes Varin with a heat metal. You finally put her down with three companions unconscious and Nerak blindly throwing magic around to distract her. After recovering from your life-threatening wounds, you find the following on the hag’s carcass: goodberries (5), lesser extend metamagic rod, scroll of call lightning; +1 leather armor, ring of protection +1, holly and mistletoe, pair of faded leather baby shoes, wooden toy rattle, and 1 gp.
Looking over your shoulder at every step for those invisible fey and another ambush, you finally depart the pocket dimension of the Vault of Thorns next to the rotting carcass of the marsh troll that you killed. Then Mossmoon (a druid soul in the shape of a Will-o’-wisp) exits a tree and excitedly exclaims that you found their cache of weapons. He identifies Gorum’s Thorn and describes that the orcs of Belkzen are no strangers to fighting giants, and orc priests of Gorum created a weapon called Gorum’s Thorn for their faithful warriors to use against giant-sized foes. The druids of the Council of Thorns captured one of these weapons in a battle with the orcs and placed it within the Vault of Thorns to study in hopes of creating their own version of Gorum’s Thorn to use against the orcs. This forge-blackened +1 keen greatsword is festooned with religious iconography depicting glorious images of the Lord in Iron.
Mossmoon leads your blind, exhausted bodies to Captain Bloodtusk’s keelboat, including the unconscious female dwarf who you defeated. On the keelboat, you find Wulfrum recovered from his bout with dysentery that he developed during the combat in the bilges. Wulfrum’s wisdom allows you to wake the dwarf and use the potion of remove curse in her pocket to cure her insanity. She introduces herself as Ingrahild Nargrymkin. She explains that a few weeks ago, she and her brother Umlo, entered Ghostlight Marsh in search of the tomb of their ancestor, the giantslayer Nargrym Steelhand.
Nerak finally heals his blindness with a potion that Wulfrum identifies as cure blindness that you found in the Vault. Everyone regals Wulfrum with the adventure of Ghostlight Marsh. Captain Bloodtusk makes way trying to deliver his trouble-attracting passengers as soon as possible.
After two nights of uneventful travel, Bloodtusk drops anchor inside the fork of two rivers coming together to form the River Esk at the base of the Mindspin Mountains. He tells you that the left branch will take you to Redlake Fort which is the hill giant, Grenseldek’s lair where you can deal with the giant chieftain and her orc tribe before they can attack Trunau again. ”Be careful. There are more patrols near the fort.”
"We'll miss you just as much as you miss us, Captain Bloodtusk!", shouts Lys to the captain as she sends an innocent grin towards the man. "Even a little bit more.", she giggles.
Disembarking from the boat, Lys frowns and groans audibly at the mud. "Oh, mud.", she hisses out, patting her horse's back. "At least now that Uncle Wulfy's back, I'm not the shortest one." Seeing the uninviting visage of the mountain, she shrugs. "I could suggest I take lead and see if there aren't any patrols who insist on spoiling our surprise visit?" Shrugging, she pats Bum's back, the horse eager to be on dry land once mroe. "Or I could not wallow in the mud, and we could move faster. Either works."
Beltzer finishes communing with the spirits before heading to leave the boat. Their last endeavour had many wounded including himself but Beltzer hopes that with the new gifts he has that that will change. Beseeching the spirits was not always easy but it could give them the edge they need in the coming battles.
Stepping off the boat Beltzer gives a curt nod and joins Lys. It's only a little bit of nature, maybe it'll even hide our approach covered in the darker natural pigments of this mud."
Wulfrum tucks his helmet onto his head and steps out with a splorch. "Aye lass, mud. GLORIOUS MUD" he says looking annoyed and happy all at the same time. He was happy to be off that god-forsaken boat but he had hoped for solid ground as opposed to mud the first thing he stepped off.
"At least your ankles are further from your ears, one deep divet and I'll have to swim" he said making the joke before anyone else could. He shook his head a bit and pulled out his pipe and lit it.
"Sadly there will be little hiding with my clanky ass following along." he said with a smirk.
Putting on an exaggerated frown, Lys stares both Wulfrum and Beltzer in equal measure with a stern gaze, before throwing a raspberry. "I like my nature solid. Ideally, about a horse away.", she frowns, before throwing a shrug, and a vicious grin. "I'd have thought you'd like most things solid, too, uncle Wulfy, especially given the recent state of s@&$ creek.", she giggles at her own graphic joke. "He-he."
Wallowing in the mud with swampy sounds coming from her boots, she surrenders to the fact that subtlety would hardly be a possibility. Especially with the bison. "Well. I suppose nobody would mind me going ahead and getting us something to eat that doesn't have the flavour and smell of a sweaty sailor? I'll go on ahead, you clang on behind."
Arlan steals some of the strange shrubbery from the brambleblight debris, mixing it into his concoctions with desirable effects. Ha! I knew this would work!
He puts the ironwood crown on his head and claims the sword called 'Gorum's Thorn', slinging it across his back. He nods, clenching his fists. I'll need more than these to kill the Giantess--this should do the trick.
When he meets back with Wulfrum, he holds the dwarf tight, lifting him off the ground in a crushing bear hug.
Good to see ya back on your feet! Ready for some payback for Trunau?
Arlan's eyes narrow, brow creased in concern, when Lys goes off to scout ahead, but he says nothing. He knows better than to try to change her mind.
After following the south fork that creates the River Esk for more than a couple of hours, Lys sees a Redlake Fort patrol before they see her. Four Twisted Nail orcs led by a hill giant are traveling across her path.
Lys can sit tight and let them pass.
Wulfrum took the bear hug stoically, his body going tense as he was lifted off the ground. His face warped into a snarling mess that almost made him drop his pipe "LAD, I'VE TOLD YAH ONCE, I'VE TOLD YAH A THOUSAND TIMES MORE...NEVER LIFT A DWARF FROM THE SODDEN GROUND!!!" he said losing his composure a bit.
Wulfrum heard Arlan's words and shook his head. "Lad this ain't payback...this is to finish a war, the wake we will leave will have the giants and orcs for years to come thinking twice about raiding another town or village.[/b]" he said after he was put down.
S&*#., mutters Lys, moving slowly backwards, in order to put cover and ground between her and the orc patrol. I'd rather not fight all of them. Not enough ammo, not that I'm not brave enough,
duh., she thinks, huddling next to a tree. She remains quiet for a moment, before a thought crosses her mind. That's either a horrible, or just a stupid idea., she hisses to herself, before biting the hem of her glove. But they might say something useful. Like how to cook halflings.
That's a bold move, Brokenshield. Let's see if it pays off., she sighs, slowly moving closer towards the patrol, until she's within hearing range, trying her best to listen to what the orcs and the giant are talking about, if anything. With my luck, they'd be speaking Cheliaxian., she frowns, crouching into the grass and mud to approach the orcish party.
Lys creeps forward within hearing distance. The patrol is crossing her and her companion's path (perpendicular to the south fork) heading away from the south fork. She imagines that they are circling the fort as a patrol.
In Orc, she overhears one of the orcs complain, "If those stinkin’ ogrekin take any more pot shots at us from that wall, I’m gonna kill ’em all myself. Ain’t fair that they get to stay inside the fort while we live down there like rats.”
In reply, the hill giant pauses and growls in Giant, "Quiet ya' maggots!”
The other three orcs stare at the complaining orc who shuts his mouth.
They continue on in silence.
So the ogres are sitting in the fort, while the orcs and the giants are sitting outside. That feels odd., thinks Lys. Maybe someone can convince either not to fight? Not me, anyway.
As the patrol continues in silence, Lys attempts to sneak away, and regroup with the rest, informing them of what she'd seen.
The group finds Lys waiting for them on the trail that they are following north of the south fork of the river Esk.
Grinning, Lys approaches the group. "What has two thumbs and is the best spy in the Hold of Belkzen?", she points at herself with the aforementioned two thumbs. "This gal."
Mounting Bum, she reaches into the pouches to draw out a flask of, possibly, water, and takes a long swig, hanging a pair of rabbits onto the saddle. "So, I came across a patrol going around Redlake Fort, four orcs and a hill giant, seemingly patrolling around the fort. I decided to sneak on them and see what they're talking about. It wasn't a discussion on the dreamiest Andoran bachelors as I initially assumed.", she chuckles.
"Turns out, there are ogres in the fort, and they seem to be mistreating the orcs and the giants. The ogres are holed up in there, I'm assuming a still standing building, while the giants and the orcs are stuck outside, the poor dears." She pulls her legs up, remaining sitting on the horse with legs crossed.
"So, me, being the ravagingly beautiful tactical genius that I am, figured out we could try pitting one group against the other. Either by bribing or convincing the orcs to go and kill the ogres, or sneaking into the fort, and opening fire on the orcs and giants, while shouting things about not having to share the halfling steaks with them, starting a little civil war between them." She takes another sip, slapping the horse's thigh to start walking. "Any ideas? Going in and shooting the lot works too, I suppose."
Wulfrum sat his warhammer down on the ground and leaned on it a bit as Lys began to start talking. He raised a brow looking at her like he might a proselytizing member of the church of Sarenrae after a battle much like Trunau.
When she brochures the idea of trying to pit the two forces against each her other he quiet literally laughed out loud. "Aye lass, I imagine you want me to be the person to approach this group with such an idea? Lest one of you been hiding an ability to throw your voice like them jesters at the town faires I've seen, I doubt we are getting close enough to try." he said in all seriousness.
He did however turn a side glance towards Beltzer "Beltzer here might be able to get close enough, but I'd sooner dangle my codpiece in the water to fish than let the lad walk into an Orc and Giant camp alone ta try." he said before he took a very very long draw on his pipe and let out a billow of smoke as if the matter was finished.
"There are few advantages to being green but being able to sneak into the orc camp and sow some dissent is likely one of the few." Beltzer shrugs "Though I would be up a creek with no paddle if things were to go south. I would not be beyond persuasion to try if we have no other plan. We are all here for Traunau." Beltzer has a bit of ponder.
"I'm thinking if things were to go wrong it's because the giant's thought I would be inciting an uprising. We could go for a different approach and I can only appear in darkness passing out messages through the ranks of orcs. Then return to the group. I can take one or two of the quieter people as my .. er... servants. Well, slaves more precisely, to make it convincing. That way I wouldn't be on my own. Though again probably the last plan we should try not the first." Continues as his thoughts on a very basic plan come out as a stream of consciousness.
Arlan sets Wulf down, shrugging at his categorization of the upcoming conflict. I'll help finish the war, sure, but I'd be lyin' if I said I won't take no satisfaction from it.
When Lys returns, Arian exhales loudly, his relief plain on his face. He listens to her intel, and the proposals by her and Beltzer.
Y'all know more about warfare and sneakthievin' than me, so I'll back whatever play you want. But if we set the orcs against the giants to get into the fort, I want to circle back and kill the survivors of the winning side, once the chief giantess is dead by my hand. That's all I ask.
Arlan's words are heavy with the weight of his ill-intent, despite the juxtaposition of his serious tone and his newly-acquired ironwood crown.
As Wulfrum speaks, Lys starts giggling loudly, nearly tumbling off the saddle. "Never knew that's what cod fishing meant.", she adds with a devilish grin. "And I agree, they don't like dwarves much. We don't like them all that much either, regardless of how tall we are.", she grins at the older dwarf. Rotating around the saddle to stare at the rest in the back, she shrugs. "I'd try to avoid sneaking into the camp as a slave, too. I can't smuggle the crossbow in my Osiriani outfit, and it's way too cold for it anyway.", she chuckles.
"Of course, Your Supreme Highlordshipness.", Lys nods at Arlan. "I never said going in with swords drawn wasn't an option. Frankly, I wonder what Nerak might have to say about that, him being the smartest cookie.", she looks at the silent wizard atop his bison. "If you tell us you can level the place with the wrath of the heavens, we'll take that option.", she suggests, drawing a bolt from her boot and starting to twirl it in her hand.
Wulfrum snorts. "Eye lass, I doubt they'd buy it anyway. Your skin's too gristled and yah lack the fat to be a true Orc slave girl anyways." he said after listening to what everyone had to say so far.
He shook his head "I plan to walk in with my head held tall, my warhammer held taller, and bash every single kneecap till the entire orc, giant, and orge army has to look up at me from their lack of being able to stand." he said in all seriousness.
Nerak shifts a moment atop his steed, having avoided the muck as much as possible.
"If their are the seeds of a little civil unrest then we could use that. But it may be best to confirm what the source is exactly to make better use of it. I would propose a little more scouting. While I don't have enough magic to destroy a fort, I could do alot of damage to a small camp if I am well prepared and guarded. I have magic that can keep a person hidden for a time as well. So we should scout not only the enemy but the terrain and area. Perhaps find a suitable location to act as our base for the time being. Camping in the open is just asking for trouble, from just about anything out here really."
He strokes his beard a little.
"In short we need more information and somewhere safe to stay in the mean time."
You're probably about 2-3 miles from the fort in late afternoon.
Wulfrum nods "Fine, but I want trees between us and the Orcs...I don't wanna smell em all night. No offense Beltzer but full Orcs smell like ass...and I ain't attacking them in the night, we attack during the day and take advantage of their sight issues!" he said grumpily.
"Taking the best of both worlds could we not attack a smaller camp as Nerak says try to leave only an orc alive, 'convince' them to return to the group and make them report that the giants leveled the camp. That way it might cause some unrest. Even if it does not incite a full on riot the orcs and giants won't be working closely after something like that. We'd need to leave some kind of proof that the giant did that." Beltzer looks at his companions weilding quite large weapons. "Ah well, we might have that covered with a few well placed wounds on the dead. Perhaps borrowing a giant weapon or two..."
"Though following on from Nerak's thought we could scout in the shadows but that precludes most of us, how bout we find a place to hunker down and drag one of these patrols kicking and screaming for information?"
Aw'right then, let's get movin'! Find a place with some tree cover, sniff out the nearest outpost, and make our move. Stay close, and be ready! Arlan draws his spear and starts looking for a suitable campsite.
Wulfrum follows the others lead and watches Arlan for a bit to see if the lad can manage on his own.
However eventually, Wulfrum swats the boy across the back of his thigh, just above the knee with his warhammer and points a bit out to the west and back to a slightly better clearing.
"You're getting there sonny, but yah still got a long ways to go." he said simply.
Lys unpacks her saddlebags, and lies under a tree, staring at the skies. "Oh, I've missed that thing. Staring at the sky. In a decent company, too...", she wistfully remarks, before leaping up. "Right. So I suggest I go and check out the fort in the morning. Orcs are nocturnal and all, it'd make sense to be safer during the day.", she proposes, reaching over for the rabbits. "I'll get the patrol schedule, if they have one, I suppose. And then we assault. Easy as pie." She scratches her head. "Though, if my attempts are anything to go by, pie is significantly harder than attacking strongholds.", she shrugs. "Now, who wants to contribute to the potluck. No old boots unless you can assure me the flavour is good.", she giggles, starting to arrange for a campfire. "And any stories about the past would be a good idea." She reaches over, tossing a flask in a safe distance away from the fire. "Come on! It's us yung'uns! Like back in the old days! Wulfrum is just as bald, too, so he hasn't aged a bit!", she giggles, somewhat nervously.