As he sees himself preparing for battle, Jaghal gives himself a puzzled look when he notices he was linking them all with his Life Link. "Either way is fine by me. It never hurts to be prepared tough.?"
The patrol passes, leaving the heroes to continue their trek towards the fort. After a short while they arrive on the outskirts of the the tangled scrub forest and find themselves looking upon the massive fort on the banks of a large lake, likely its namesake. Putting his plan into motion, Jaghal calls upon the powers of his newly acquired cloak to take to the air and soar above the fortress, scouting out the various buildings as well as noting the activity of the inhabitants.
The structure itself is massive, spanning over 400 feet from east to west, and have that much from north to south. Surrounding the high fort walls is a trench that varies from 15 to 30 feet across, and must have once have served as a moat, but has long since dried up. In the deep trench that was once the keep's moat, dozens of hide tents and lean-tos have been constructed, and dozens of orcs can be seen milling about those areas. To the south of the fort, where the lake meets the dug walls of the moat, a large dam can be seen holding back the waters of Redlake. Along the eastern walls, a massive gatehouse can be seen, with several long planks serving as bridges over the various sections of the moat that provide the only visible entry into the main fortress itself.
Within the walls of the keep Jaghal counts a score or more of ogres, moving about the two main courtyards as well as standing upon the battlements. All told the gnome is able to count at least 60-80 visible defenders around the fortress, with many more likely inside the various towers and buildings that make up the interior of the fort.
With dusk steadily approaching, the heroes make their plans to gain entry to the complex and find a way to accomplish their mission, with the hopes of somehow being able to escape with their lives intact as well!
"Too bad we can't flood the moat," Sasha whispers.
"Flooding the place would be awesome indeed! But then I think it would be harder for us to go in by the sewers." He thinks for a bit and gathers information about himself to give the others. "Regarding my abilities that you have not seen yet, I can summon spirits much like your rage, but they create a weapon that attacks on its own, whoever I desire. It's a spiritual weapon, so the enemies will probably have a hard time eliminating it fast. Of course, they would probably be more aware of our invasion than before, but it's an option. If it comes to infiltrating, I can instigate some fear in lesser enemies, or maybe paralyze one or another in fear! Mua ha ha ha yes I'm awesome."
"Well if we could flood the moat, we would drown a lot of our enemies, which would be preferable to fighting them. Honestly, I think we should try to take out patrols to weaken the resistance we'll find once we actually get into the keep. I don't think we'll be able to kill ogres and giants that quietly, and I don't want the whole keep coming down on us. Orcs can see in the dark, so I'm not even sure that trying to sneak in at night is the best option. As for getting in, we could probably by-pass the sewer completely and have my griffon fly us over the wall."
"Perhaps we don't need to break the dam as much as just draw their attention to it. The sewer entrance is on the opposite side of the fort so if we could draw their attention that way it might make it easier to slip in."
"So, weakening them by killing patrols is the best idea so far? I wish we had some kind of invisibility... I know nothing about dams..."
"No, just considering the wisdom of your plan. I agree that yours is the sound approach. We'd best be about it."
Taking a deep breath and letting it out through his nose Corentin finally joins the conversation.
"The tunnel seems the best bet to me as well. With some luck it's unknown, or at least ignored by the current residents. It's located far from the gate house and only seems to have a few orc buildings near it. Perhaps most importantly it looks like it may lead directly into, or at least near, the inner keep. In the end there is no easy way of going about this but I think it has the best chance of us completing our mission."
"It also occurs to me that diplomacy with the Orcs might be an option if we do eventually encounter them. If they're unhappy with the current state of things perhaps they'd turn a blind eye to see a change of leadership."
Jaghal agrees. "Even with my armor I can still be silent, at least enough to match some of you guys, I think. So yeah, I'm all for it. What about some kind of distraction like a fight? They are on the nerve, so it should be easy to provoke something using long distance magic, and then when the fight draws their attention, we could approach."
Jaghal definitely does not have the speed to do that and escape the site swiftly. "I can go, but I don't think I'm the best option."
Sasha nods her agreement to the plan.
From just beyond earshot of the western edge of the dried up moat the party crouches low in the surrounding scrub and prepares their plan. The halfling fishes out a vial of liquid fire from her pack as the skald spells out the final details of the assault. Once everyone is prepared Gizsmith incants a few arcane phrases and gestures at Sasha, her form shimmering for a moment before vanishing completely. The gnome counts down in his head and starts his next cast, nodding towards the edge of the moat as he sends his magic cascading down on the remaining party members, one by one, until only he remains. Just as he is about to start the final cast he hears a cry of alarm as blaze springs up slightly to the south, from inside the moat itself. Nodding to himself as the plan's first element appears to be working he completes his spell and vanishes without a trace.
The party, each aware of only the movement around them and the slow and steady pace towards the sewer entrance marked on the old map, creep slowly towards the location as chaos erupts within the orc camp, dozens of the creatures running towards the blaze and tossing water and dirt upon the blazing tent. The distraction seems to work, as there appears to be no notice of the group's passage through the trench. Each member of the party spots the open drain that leads into the wall of the fort itself, so small that the human sized members are forced to squeeze tightly through the hole on their hands and knees. Several times there is a sharp intake of breath as an invisible form bumps into another invisible form, but slowly the entire party manages to make it inside. On their hands and knees the group crawls through the tunnel, which is filled with a few inches of vile waste water that contains exactly what one would expect a sewer to contain. Hands and legs covered in muck and rot, the group emerges into a circular room with a large pool of rancid and sewage filled waste which oozes out the tunnel. Roughly ten feet above the room is a circular hole in a wooden ceiling that can only be the fort's privvy chamber.
As the front rank stands inside the cesspool room there is a sickening sound as a pair of masses detach themselves from the stone walls and slowly slide towards the ground, inching towards the party.
Giz shoots a ray of icy goodness at one of the oozes:
but it flies wide.
Giz shoots a ray of icy goodness at one of the oozes: [dice=Ranged touch]1d20+5
but it flies wide.
The experience of moving around without being able to see yourself took some getting used to but Corentin eventually got the hang of it. Glad the distraction seemed to work well he did his best to move to the sewer entrance without running into his companions. Once there he sighed at the necessity of crawling through the muck but did so without more than a moments hesitation to tighten up the straps on his gear, another simple task made more difficult when you couldn't see what you were doing. Thinking back fondly on the days he fought out on a battle field rather than in some sewage filled cave, he did what he could to keep up with his friends and avoid sinking into the muck more than he had to.
Glad to finally stand up again when they reached the end of the sewer he was quick to draw his weapon when Szacha raised the alarm. The call of slimes brought old tavern tales to mind but little useful knowledge.
Thinking the straightforward approach the best he brought his morning star down on the creature in front of him as he asked "How do we deal with them?"
Giz connects with his spell and the ooze takes the full brunt of the gnome's phenomenal cosmic powers!
Sasha and Galor surge forward, working in tandem like a well-oiled machine. Sasha uses her longsword, fearful for what the touch of the oozes may do to metal. She has heard much about the horrifying effects of oozes on weapons and has no desire to lose her new toy. Similarly, she orders Galor to hold his attack, not wanting him to suffer damage.
Corentin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Sasha: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10
Johan: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20
Gizsmith: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17
Szacha: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
T_T
"Please do remind me whose idea was this anyway?" Jaghal's opinion certainly did not consider this a great idea right now. Being in the sewers sucked. Really. Plus, there were things coming at them. Still through the Message spell he whisper an answer to Corentin's question. "Hit them until they stop sliming!" He himself follows that advice, attacking the one Sasha was aiming at, since the other one would be too close to properly fight with his spear.
The spirit surrounding him, however, attacked the other one.
Gizsmith fires off a quick ray of frost while Szacha raises a cry of alarm and begins to inspire his companions with his words. The ray connects with the ooze but doesn't seem to cause the creature to react in any noticeable way. Corentin slams his newly acquired morning star into one of the oozes, the weapon slapping across its surface with a pair of sickening sounding thuds. As he pulls the weapon away he notices a faint sizzling sound as the acidic covering surrounding the creatures eats away at the precious silver. Sasha steps towards the second ooze, chopping at it with her longsword and cleaving deeply into the puddle, her weapon also steaming with acid as she draws it back. From across the puddle of murky sewage Jaghal stabs into one of the oozes with his spear, the tip plunging deeply into the creature and coming out the other size, steaming with acidic smoke.
The first ooze lashes out towards Corentin with a pseudopod of wiggling slime, connecting with the cavalier and wrapping around him tightly, the acid coating the creature burning his exposed skin. The second ooze slams a bulbous portion of its body into Sasha, wrapping itself around her smaller form and pulling her in close.
"Why can't anything ever be easy?"
Giz casts grease on Sasha.
Jaghal would not suffer the grappling of a team mate, not while he had enough power in him remaining! Since Giz already tried to release Sasha, he immediately unleashes magic to try to get him back to the battle!
"Liberate!!"
Plus he supports his team in the best way he can, by giving them some of his own life force.
Last but not least he strikes with all his mighty fake-rage blessed by the god dice, to try to take the creature out of its misery!
Sasha attempts to extricate herself from the ooze.
Inspired by the call to freedom Corentin tries to slip the creatures grip.
He managed to twist free from some of the burning ooze and hoped it was enough to break it's hold. Meanwhile he leveled another pair of attacks at it.