Arlan grunts his acknowledgement of Wulf's better site, and throws a few edible herbs into the stew pot.
As long as these orcs and giants don't go all invisible on us, I'm ready for anything. Say, you remember that time I tied Varin's bootlaces to Keltza's stool-leg when we were learnin' our letters? She stood up before him and he was kinda day-dreamin' like he would do, hearin' the sounds of the forge I suppose. He got pulled right on his ass, blinkin' like a damned toad. No clue what happened. I can still see it, ha ha ha ha!
Arlan's eyes are wistful in remembrance as he laughs a soulful, rich laugh.
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After your discussion, Lys leads the group toward Redlake Fort on the trail following on the north side of the of the south fork of the river Esk. It takes you two more hours before Lys signals the group to stop and crawl forward to peek over a ridge. Another half mile away across scrub foothills with random cover, you see the fort. Built from reddish stone (which also contributed to its name), Redlake Fort sits atop a rocky outcrop 20 feet above a wide, dry trench. The dry moat is encircled by a 10-foot-high wooden palisade constructed of 2-foot-thick logs lashed together The only gaps in the palisade are where a stone bridge leads to the fort’s barbican to which the trail you are following ends. The outer wall of the fort itself is 15 feet high,
Behind the barbican, there is a guarded bridge leading to a gatehouse with two flanking and crumbling guard towers; each 30 feet tall. Behind the gatehouse enclosing the outer bailey, there are another five guard towers along the wall forming the inner bailey. There appears to be a 45-ft tall chapel (far north corner) and a keep (far south corner), 60-ft tall and about 60-ft square with a balcony overlooking the inner bailey and two crumbling round towers on top, along the back wall of the fort facing the mountains above which hangs the sun ready to set.
On the north side of the barbican, you see about two dozen orcs staring down into the dry moat. From their screaming and taunting, you surmise that they have a dwarven prisoner ready to fight their pet bears.
It took Wulfrum a bit more time than the rest to really get into position as quietly as possible but by the time he could, it was easy to tell he was beyond livid.
His eye twitched a bit and a minor bit of blood began dripping down into his beard from what he heard the orcs screaming and attempting. "I can stand back, but I'd rather naught. If you lot got a smart idea, best start churning it out else a very angry, very short dwarf is gonna get to trundling on a warpath...and either those orcs or this dwarf ain't surviving." he said in a very angry but grave tone.
Staring at the orcs, a short, passionate, and incredibly vulgar tirade in Dwarven leaves Lys' mouth, commenting on the orcs' heritage, romantic preferences and livestock before she turns to Wulfrum with a dark smile. "I learned that one from mum!", she comments with the tone of a proud child, unsheathing her crossbow. "Uh. I'd rather not fight bears unless I can help it...", she says, looking at Nerak. "We're not leaving our brother there, Wulfy."
Tearing off a nearby blade of grass and biting it, she stares at Nerak. "Hey, Nerak? Do you think you could... I don't know, magically fish the dwarf out of the moat?", she asks, before chuckling. "Not a sentence I thought I'd say today.", she trails off, before staring at the wall. "Ah, shit, here I thought I'd stop being heroic...", she mutters. "That part of the wall looks pretty beaten up, even I can climb that. The orcs are distracted, so if I go in and open the drawbridge, you'd probably be able to run over inside and kill some orcs. And ogres. The occasional bear, you get the jist. I'll probably have the high ground and can cover you from there.", she shrugs.
"So, wait for me to open that, or go save the dwarf if they release the bears, and I'll know to hurry.", she suggests. Drawing her axe from her belt, she hands it to Wulfrum. "Give him the axe when you get him out, it sure deserves to chop more than firewood."
Lys sighs deeply, wiping her forehead, appearing quite nervous. "Well, unless one of you can pull the Lastwall 7th out of their ass in the next ten seconds, I'll be going. Lorn, give me a kiss for good luck.", she turns to the floating stone thing, lips pursed, before standing up and slowly proceeding towards the fort.
I'm just doing those now to save time. Obviously don't use them if someone comes up with a brilliant plan.
While your emotions of justice and rage reach boiling temperatures, you see a makeshift wooden throne carried up to the high point and middle of the barbican by another half dozen orcs. Then, you see a large orc in half-plate with a small entourage follow and seat himself on the throne. So, that's about three dozen Twisted Nail orcs including their leader all watching and ready to watch a dwarf fight some pet bears.
On the positive side, the reason that you have such a good vantage of the orcs is that both wooden drawbridges of the barbican, at the end of the trail and entering the fort, are down.
Arian puts a leaf of chew into his mouth and starts spitting red, fishing a fizzing bottle out of his pack.
Ingrahild, go with Lys and kill as many of the soldiers as you can. These are orc-hunting arrows. Leave the leader to us. Unless you have a clean shot with this, Arlan says, pointing to the orc-slaying arrow.
Bel, come with me and Wulf. We'll hold the drawbridge if it comes to that. Got any spirit magic to keep us alive? Maybe use some of these fancy scrolls? Nerak, save the dwarf and keep the group off us while we whittle away at them. Time for talk is done. Let's kill these bastards, for Trunau.
Nerak looks at Arlan with a touch of disbelief. Grabbing him if he tries to move away. Speaking some sense into the group.
"If you want to run in there without a plan or information and play the hero. Then you can die like one and I will bring back news of your death. But you can count me out. We are not here to save one person or kill a bunch of orcs. We are here for the safety of our village, which means dealing with the source of the problem. Not the symptoms which in case you forgot, orcs control these lands. One or even two less tribes does not rid us of our problem or change anything, it just postpones it until another tribe can be recruited if the leader escapes with a thirst for vengeance. Trunau survives by being a cunning fortress, we repelled an army of vast numbers with defenses and traps. Now we are on the other side without numbers or any information and you expect us to fair better. I think not, if their is one thing orcs know it's war. You won't get to the dwarf charging in and your going to die trying it that way. I'll have no part of that foolishness."
They want to kill orcs by acting like them, nonsense. Hard choices have to be made with your head, not your heart or your groin. Getting all worked up about murder when their priorities are protecting their home. At least that was his understanding. Did they forget how orcs were during their time away. He certainly did not. Their was very little they could do that would surprise him, such was the burden of knowledge.
Arian turns and stands tall, blood rising to his ears.
We damn sure ARE here to kill orcs! If you don't have the stomach for it, go slink back to the riverboat. Maybe you can make it there in time. I didn't say to charge in, and I DO have a plan, so listen up. Archers scale the wall, pincushion the soldiers. You and Bel blast the orcs while they're grouped together. Either they panic and scatter and get picked off by the archers, or they group up at the gate. Me, Bel, and Wulf hold the chokepoint at the bridge and take away their numbers advantage. We'll fill the moat with their blood. You have anything to add to the plan? Then speak up. But we're burning daylight.
Lys stops her advance, turning back as the heated argument starts. "Oh, bother.", she lets out in a drippingly sarcastic tone, before biting a strand of grass. "Look, I'm not planning on leaving anyone behind to be torn apart by bears. If I was leaving someone behind in a Calistrian temple to cover the bill, that'd be different.", she grins darkly. Putting her hands on her waist, she tosses a glance at both Nerak and Arlan. "I am all for 'not dying a hero', but c'mon. If it was any one of us in there, would you really have left them to be killed by the bears, Nerak? Could you bear to live with the guilt?", she asks. "And if me and Hild here,", she nods at Ingrahild, "Go to the side, and open fire from there, the orcs might not come charging straight at us, especially considering they don't have shields. Not even they are stupid enough to charge an archery line hundreds of feet away.", she reasons.
She grabs both Nerak and Arlan. "So, I suggest you both come and help me get that dwarf out. Then, you can have a shirtless, oiled, passionate argument, and me and Hild here can watch. Intently, perhaps even bordering on salacious, for me.", her eyebrows start dancing up and down, nudging Ingrahild with her elbow.
Wulfrum stares at the lot of them, blood boiling a bit in his ears. He knew Lys enough to know that joking was her way of coping with a situation but it still wasn't a thing to joke about.
"Nerak, if you got a plan I'm willing to listen. Hell if you can somehow get that dwarf over there invisible to sight and then get him out, that's more than enough for me. I'll calm down, we'll come back and strike em while the sun beats down on their damned peeled skulls." he said trying to keep himself from snarling in anger.
"But unless we can managed all that, we need to get moving to take em on before that poor guy loses his life. I know yah and Lys mentioned trying to twist em against each other and honestly, I'd love to see em killing their own instead of towns like our own. And if you can manage that I'm all for that as well, hell you get me capable of sneaking up all invisible like I can try and work one of those idgits giants into striking a nearby orc."" he said smirking a bit almost forgetting some of the old tricks that his short priesthood learned him.
Beltzer shrugs "I'll do whichever plan gets chosen be it going in and just getting the dwarf out for now or trying to make a large dent in their forces."
Beltzer scratches the back of his neck not liking either proposition at the minute. "Either way we need an escape plan for whichever plan we do choose otherwise we will be stuck with no way out and a guaranteed death or imprisonment."
Nerak strokes his beard to keep from rolling his eyes.
"If your all done with the dramatics and making appeals to my heart over my head. I could well give you a plan. So be silent and listen or be silent before we get noticed. Bluster never helps."
He lets out a sigh, or tantrums.
"If you open your eyes a little more you could see the lay out properly. Unless you can hit a target without seeing it, your going to have to get close to the orcs to do anything to them. Even at range they have fortifications to hide behind. Attacking them is out of the question for the last time. If you want to save the dwarf, then it can be done. Without fighting, at least until the orcs do something foolish."
He draws a basic layout in the dirt. Putting three spots with his thumb outside the walls.
"There, there, and there. I will be outside the wall nearest to the moat and farthest from the entrance. From there I can send Lorn over to hit the dwarf with an invisibility spell and deliver a note with instructions. Then Lorn can hit him with a flying spell. Unless the orcs can hit something they can't see in mid air. The dwarf will be in no danger and able to escape. The other two spots where the rest of you will be are by the entrance, you can bottleneck the orcs on the bridge if they try to leave the fortress. Being so close to the wall will make it impossible for any of us to be seen. It will also grant cover in the event of a fight. In a perfect world they won't try to leave the fortress and we can retreat with our prize. That's my proposal, any questions?"
Wuflrum nodded. "Aye lad, you're the smart one and I'm too emotional to make a proper plan anyhow. You want me to stand somewhere and prepare to break some kneecaps till your little bird flies over and give me a sqwak then I'll stand there and hold the position till it happens. I can't guarantee anything though, if that poor brethren of mine dies for the amusement of these bastards thou." he said once the plan had been laid out.
Wulfrum fishes in his pocket and pulls out a blackened wand. He unclips it from his waist and hands over the wand of cure light wounds and it's weapon cord. "Do your best, get that idgit back up on his feet and get running when he gets out. Till then, I think me and Beltzers magics can keep the rest of us up and going if needed." he said before standing up and readying himself for the oncoming battle.
Arlan nods, downing the noxious concoction. He drinks messily, spilling the potion down his face and chest like a drunkard and his form mutates to a frightening size.
He speaks briefly, his voice now lower pitched and guttural. Right then, it's settled. Let's move.
Wulfrum nods to the group. "Aye, I got nothing to provide to get us up and going. Maybe bless the lot of yah once we get reasonably close but otherwise...best not use my spells till the wheels fall off the cart." he said.
He'd start out once it was sure the group was ready.
Lys and Ingrahild approach carefully, until the point Lys raises her arm in the air. "Well, we'll do some good old soldiery mud-crawling. Great for my skin.", she grins at Ingrahild. Crouching as she approaches the fort, she lies on her stomach and crosses the last hundred feet to her position in the prone position. "Try to remain unseen, if you can. I can fire while lying down, so I'll stay here. Low energy warfare, I call it.", she hisses. "I'd suggest you go a couple steps ahead of me since you might want to get in close enough to axe the orcs some questions eventually.", she comments, snickering. "Sorry."
"I hope everyone remembers the point is to save the dwarf. Once the deed is done I'll run pass those of you at the gate on my way back to base. If I happen to be invisible I'll speak on my way by, but I won't be stopping."
He had already made it clear he would not support an attack. Once the dwarf was safe their was no reason to stay. It didn't matter if the orcs followed or not in that regard. He wasn't going to fight when he knew they would lose. At best he would make it unwise to follow in the face of discovery and pursuit.
Lorn and the note written in dwarven was ready. He moves as carefully as he can until their is no more cover to hide behind. He then cast an invisibility spell on himself, followed by a extended spell of speed, and makes a flat out run for his intended position. To any onlooker it would seem like just another trail of dust thrown up by a wayward wind. Once he makes it to the wall he slows his pace as he keeps a look out and ear out as he makes his way to where he needed to be. Once properly in position he puts the needed spell on to Lorn as well as one upon him. Lorn then flies unseen over the wall towards the dwarf with the note in hand.
Spell: Invisibility (Nerak)
Use of Extend Rod and Spell: Extended Expeditious Retreat (Nerak)
Spell: Invisibility (Held for Dwarf by Lorn)
Use of Wand: Invisibility (Lorn)
Wulfrum holds up momentarily when he reaches Lys and stops Arland and Beltzer.
He quickly takes a knee and brings his warhammer down to the ground. "Torag bless these children, hopefully they will not need the might today." he says in dwarvish before moving forwards to his position.
Arlan smiles, and draws his spear, following as quietly as he can. He takes up a position on the opposite side of the drawbridge from Wulfrum.
The team moves quietly into position. When you get within 500 feet, you can now hear the melee between the dwarf and bears. Between the combat sounds and the heads of the orcs, you believe the dwarf is in the corner furthest away from the gate.
You understand that if your plan was anything but rescuing the dwarf, Ingrahild would probably charge the gates by herself. As it is, her whole body trembles with bottled rage.
A roar of disbelief from the orcs erupts when presumably he becomes invisible. Their stares start looking for the escapee.
One of the nine on the far right side points to Wulfrum and Ingrahild and screams in Orc, "DWARVES!!!!"
Nerak imbues Lorn with the flying spell. Once the dwarf is hit by Lorn, he could fly away. While the pair can make their hasty retreat.
Spell: Fly (Dwarf)
Arlan growls approval at the orcs' discovery of them. He affixes his shield and waits, ready to deflect any oncoming attacks. Beltzer calls upon spiritual aid, binding him and Arlan in mutual defense.
Beltzer hearing that stealth has gone the way of the dodo, such a mythical bird, readies to cast spiritual weapon to support Arlan and Wulf when one of the orcs appears near the gate. Well if they do, they might shoot nothing but arrows, he thinks.
Wulfrum nodded at the others and sets up divine favor on himself. He hadn't heard the request to run just yet so he held his position for a few seconds longer.
Wulfrum snorts "Sounds like the plan is working a bit...but be ready to bolt."
"Well, most of my fellow dwarves do seem to hate subtlety...", Lys mutters to herself, as she looks at the orc pointing at Ingrahild and Wulfrum. "Buuut. Staring is rude. And so is pointing.", she continues, as she opens fire at the orc, Ingrahild following. Two bolts carve their path through the battlements into the pointing orc's torso, followed by an arrow from Ingrahild nailing him in the head. I could've probably saved myself the mud..., Lys complains to herself, before readying herself for another barrage.
Two bolts carve their path through the battlements into the pointing orc's torso, followed by an arrow from Ingrahild nailing him in the head. I could've probably saved myself the mud..., Lys complains to herself, before readying herself for another barrage.
Six orcs ready their longbows and return fire.
An angry mob of orcs boil out of the barbican. They effectively wear studded leather. The first ones ready falchions. The ones behind heft javelins.
Usual Twisted Nail AC 14
Arlan = AC 30 & 76/76
Beltzer = AC 16 & 58/58
Lys = AC 25 & 66/66 * prone
Nerak = AC 14 & 48/48
Wulfrum = AC 22 & 60/60
Ingrahild = AC 18 & 55/55-12=43
Wulfrum grunts as the orcs start spilling out. He looks over his shoulder and nods to the ladies before slamming his fist against the half plate and activating the command word.
He grunted as he stepped a bit to the side to cover more of the entrance to keep the orcs from spilling out before using a bit of divine power to quickly cast Bull's Strength on himself as well.
Wulfrum's eye twitches at the oncoming swarm of green. He plants the massive shield in their way and raises high the warhammer, ready to smash it down on the nearest orc that tries to move.
Arlan steps next to Wulfrum and throws an elbow at the nearest orc, who's ready for it. The mutated soldier follows up with a headbutt, screaming in the orcs face before driving a knee into the orc's groin.
For Trunau!
With the job done, the pair take off. With his enhanced speed he makes it to where the others are in moments as he runs. Again leaving nothing but a vague dust trail.
"It's done! Retreat!"
As promised he doesn't stop and makes his way towards the girls. Coming up on them fast. He stops next to the pair, still invisible.
"It's Nerak, the dwarf is invisible as well and flying to our meeting point."
Beltzer's readied spell flies out as the orcs tumble out the gate.
Then another strike as Beltzer comes out soon after the first on the same orc.
Beltzer then calls on a spirit to gaze on the orc that is fighting with Wulfrum. He makes ready to retreat when they are ready to do so.
Lorn arrives at Nerak and tells him that the dwarf didn't have time to read the note.
Arlan steps next to Wulfrum and throws an elbow at the nearest orc, who's ready for it. The mutated soldier follows up with a headbutt, screaming in the orcs face before driving a knee into the orc's groin. "For Trunau!"
The orcs in front advance. The one wounded by Lys swings and drops.
With the job done, Nerak and Lorn take off. With his enhanced speed he makes it to where the others are in moments as he runs. Again leaving nothing but a vague dust trail. "It's done! Retreat!"
As promised he doesn't stop and makes his way towards the girls. Coming up on them fast. He stops next to the pair, still invisible. "It's Nerak, the dwarf is invisible as well and flying to our meeting point."
Usual Twisted Nail AC 14
Arlan = AC 24 & 76/76
Beltzer = AC 16 & 58/58-2=56
Lys = AC 25 & 66/66 * prone
Nerak = AC 14 & 48/48
Wulfrum = 60/60 & AC 23, 10ft Reach, DR 5/Evil.
Ingrahild = AC 18 & 55/43
Wulfrum grunts and hears Nerak back by the girls. "Drop us some damn cover!" he yells back towards Nerak and girls.
A small flash of magic goes off and lights up the shield before he shoves an Orc back with his shield. "Got something to keep em distracted Beltzer?" he said as he does so.
"Sadly not today, the group gets annoyed at my clouds sometimes so I got into the habit of not having them ready anymore. So we're on the run for this one. I could summon something but that's more time than we have."
Beltzer's sword continues to attack the still alive orc that is still fighting Wulf.
Beltzer instead throws another evil eye hex while he retreats. This time to lower their ability to hit his companions.
We got 'em bottlenecked here. You want us to let all these fish outta the barrel? Aw'right!
Arlan kicks one of the orcs away from him, then retreats alongside Wulfrum.
"It's Nerak, the dwarf is invisible as well and flying to our meeting point."
"Thank you, voice in my head!", lets out Lys with a grin, leaping up and breaking into a sprint away from the orcs. "Come on, Ingrahild!", she waves at the dwarf, who also starts running away from the fort.
No rolls, but still.
Lys' actions: Standing up (move), standard move (Standard)
Ingrahild's actions: run (full)
A small flash of magic goes off and lights up the shield before he shoves an Orc back with his shield. "Got something to keep em distracted Beltzer?" he said as he does so.
Beltzer's sword continues to attack the still alive orc that is still fighting Wulf.
Arlan kicks one of the orcs away from him, then retreats alongside Wulfrum.
Six orcs fire another volley of longbow arrows. Beltzer gets hit twice, and Lys once.
1=B, 2=A, 3=L, 4=I
The orcs in front hesitate in front of a giant dwarf. They shift their falchions to one hand and ready and throw javelins. None bother the dwarf.
Usual Twisted Nail AC 14
Arlan = AC 27 & 76/76+11
Beltzer = AC 16 & 58/56-4=52
Lys = AC 21 & 66/66-4=62
Nerak = AC 14 & 48/48
Wulfrum = 60/60 & AC 23, 10ft Reach, DR 5/Evil.
Ingrahild = AC 18 & 55/43
Wulfrum spits in the face of the nearest orc, back pedals a bit and starts to beat feet as much as a 9ft tall dwarf can.
Lys takes a moment to dust herself quickly, when a barrage of orcish projectiles starts landing next to her. "Yгүй ээ баярлалаа! Цай уухгүй!", she barks at the orcs, as she breaks into a sprint, carrying the crossbow as if it was a baby.
"No, thank you! Can't stay for tea!"
No use when I need to reload, anyway., she ponders laying suppressing fire. Ingrahild, too, starts running for her life, the dwarf carrying an impressive pace, yet not nearly able to match the lifelong traveller's impressive jaunt.
Nerak gets into position with Lorn on his shoulder up against the 10-foot-high wooden palisade constructed of 2-foot-thick logs lashed together. He hears animal roars from the bears and orcs not 10 feet away beyond the palisade. He times casting the new Invisibility spell with a roar of a bear that is quickly followed by a cheer from the orcs.
Lorn takes flight over the palisade and now sees the bear fight. Spittle drips from this feral bear’s roaring maw, and its matted fur is broken in places by wicked, bony growths. The dominant dire bear has the dwarf backed into the corner of the pen while three other large bears wait their turn to feast.
Fresh blood oozes from several claw marks contrasting the glistening wet blood with the matte dried blood that covers his bloody rags that cover him. Lorn realizes that someone must be healing him after the bear fight, so he can fight again.
The dwarf has a silver skillet in his hand and brandishing it as a defensive weapon and shield. He randomly dances back and forth attempting to bat the claws away. It takes Lorn's full concentration to land on the dwarf's shoulder, turning him Invisible! Lorn squawks in his ear and takes flight to return to Nerak's shoulder.
A roar of disbelief from the orcs erupts when presumably he becomes invisible. Their stares start looking for the escapee. One of the nine on the far right side points to Wulfrum and Ingrahild and screams in Orc, "DWARVES!!!!"
The dwarf realizes his invisibility, so he side-steps around the bear relying on its inability to scent. The dire bear swings wildly.
The noise of Nerak casting Fly on Lorn is again drowned out by the chaos. Lorn lifts off and finds the dire bear even madder than before flailing around the pen looking for the invisible dwarf while the three other bears crowd into look, too. Lorn sees the dwarf trying to make himself small against the palisade with nowhere to get around the raging bears. He dives for his shoulder barely avoiding the bear claws. Lorn lands heavy on the dwarf, which drew a claw from a bear successfully delivering the Fly spell. He squawks in the dwarf’s ear again and takes flight to return to Nerak's shoulder. Lorn arrives at Nerak and tells him that the dwarf didn't have time to read the note.
Arlan steps next to Wulfrum and throws an elbow at the nearest orc, who's ready for it. The mutated soldier follows up with a headbutt, screaming in the orcs face before driving a knee into the orc's groin. "For Trunau!"
The dwarf lifts off flying straight up 60 feet dodging the raging bear claws for the first 15 feet. He looks around for the dwarves that the orcs spotted.
With the job done, Nerak and Lorn take off. With his enhanced speed he makes it to where the others are in moments as he runs. Again leaving nothing but a vague dust trail. "It's done! Retreat!" As promised he doesn't stop and makes his way towards the girls. Coming up on them fast. He stops next to the pair, still invisible. "It's Nerak, the dwarf is invisible as well and flying to our meeting point."
The dwarf thinks he sees his sister retreating with a motley crew. He dives toward her and announces,
Considering that they are in a full retreat Beltzer continues to withdraw with the rest of them.
Arlan continues to retreat with the others.
Nerak still invisible with his enhanced speed could easily outdistance the others. So he keeps ahead but not to far ahead in case something unexpected happens.
So, the companions withdraw.
Ingrahild squeals with joy as she lifts off the ground hugging an invisible, flying brother.
Six orcs fire another volley of longbow arrows. Another arrow glances off Lys's armor.
1=B, 2=A, 3=L, 4=I
The orcs at the gate advance and loft another volley of javelins at the giant dwarf.
You hear a commanding voice in Orc call for the javelin orcs to stop pursuit.
Usual Twisted Nail AC 14
Arlan = AC 27 & 76/76+11
Beltzer = AC 16 & 58/56-4=52
Lys = AC 21 & 66/66-4=62
Nerak = AC 14 & 48/48
Wulfrum = 60/60 & AC 23, 10ft Reach, DR 5/Evil.
Ingrahild = AC 18 & 55/43
Wulfrum doesn't even bother checking to see how the Orcs are doing, breaking Javelins and trundling on.