Seeing no other targets at hand, Lanyssa goes for the fallen bandit.
Freyr scowls as the fey disappears. "Trust a fey to be a coward on top of an annoyance." He steps around Lanyssa and, rather than picking up his sword, simply releases the grip on his bow with one hand and rams his metal coated fist straight down into the fallen bandit's face.
Grey moves to Grevious and says a few words in a foreign language...
Into the Border Wood - On Frozen Pond -
Freyr and Lanyssa quickly disable to the fallen bandit.
Grey meanwhile heals Grievous though she is still wounded.
Greivous quickly loads another bolt into her crossbow, looking around at who's left... once she has she takes this time to hunker down, not wanting to take another hit. Kill the bastards already! I'm sick and tired of being a pin cushion.
Into the Border Wood - On Frozen Pond -
Grievous loads her crossbow as Hendra stands and throws a spear despite her diminutive size!
Spear Miss% 50+ to Hit
She let's it fly!
Spear Attack
But it flies wide of the Fey.
Faethara will advance to the treeline, then conjures an orb of acid in her hand that she sends flying at one of the bandits.
Frjya once more reached out and snapped her fingers to Daze one of the remaining two bandits.
Lurruk lets loose again, firing at the spot he last saw the fey.
Beauty continues to peck at the fey as well.
Greivous thinks about where she last saw the fey, then begins chanting,magic flowing from the ground into her body, she fires in the direction of they Fey.
But the energy flickers, not coming out as strong as she intended.
The magic greivous originally intended for the fey ravages her body, weakening her.
Into the Border Wood - On Frozen Pond -
Fawfein - HP = 0/16
Bandit 1 - HP 0/7 -
Bandit 2 - HP 4/7 - Dazed!
Bandit 3 - HP 4/7 - Longbow Attack @ Fryja - Damage . Reflex Save .
Frjya spell works once more and the Bandit falls from the tree! Faethara's acid splash strikes the second one on the ground. He is still Dazed.
Lurruk and Beauty strike simultaneously and the fey, finally, falls to the ground!
The final stubborn Bandit in the tree now fires at Frjya after she brought down two of his allies with simple magic. The shot is not even close.
Grievous sees the Fey spiraling down and releases fire up into the trees. The fey is struck and slams into the ground smoking as Grievous sags to her knees. The last bandit leaps away but is still injured from the flames.
Freyr cracks his knuckles and delivers another punch, aimed at the next bowman to fall from the trees. "This is surprisingly efficient."
Lanyssa walks vehemently to near the base of the tree and shouts.
"You! Down! Right now!"
Grey moves over to behind Freyr and mumbles something again, touching him and healing his wounds.
Into the Border Wood - On Frozen Pond -
Freyr punches the dazed man and his eyes roll back in his head.
Seeing the rest of his "companions" down, the bandit in the tree drops his bow and his weapon answering Lanyssa, "I surrender, please let me climb down".
The fey and the two bandits are unconscious leaving the uninjured bandit the only foe able to speak. He looks around at how many of you there are and mutters to himself, [smaller][b]"I told Rohkar we needed more men..."[smaller][b]
greivous growls, walking over to the fey and shoots the thing point blank.
she smiles, enjoying snuffing out what ever little life the Fey had left.
"You probably should have brought a hell of a lot more. Considering we outnumber you two to one. Your boss isn't a very bright one, is he?" Freyr slings his bow over his back and picks up his sword again, checking it once for scratches before sliding it back into its sheath. "But I'll tell you what. You might get to leave here with your head if you tell us about where he's hiding and what he's done with the poor lady he's kidnapped. Oh, and any surprises that might be waiting for us up ahead."
Lanyssa stands befpre the man while Freys is tallking to him, her hands resting on her falchion.
Lurruk watches Grievous execute the fey with no reaction. "I'm guessing we will see many more such creatures in these woods. Good riddance."
Grey looks around after the battle assessing battle wounds. Sees that Lurruk appears a bit worse for the wear, and moves over to him and hexes him.
Into the Border Wood - On Frozen Pond -
Hendra grimaces and approaches Grey, "Any of those healing touches left?" She eyes Grievous as she puts the final touches to snuffing the fey.
The man looks to Freyr and nods, "Yep. I think he just wants to get as much as he can for as little as possible. The fey also was placed in charge, I'd have shot the minute we saw you approach but the damned thing wanted to use illusions, lost the advantage.
I suppose it doesn't matter now, we lost you won.
You let me go and I'll tell ya' what you need to know. You have to make sure you kill Rohkar, that black hearted cleric, else he'll come after me".
Hendra stares at the man hard, "Rest assured. He's dead and just doesn't know it yet".
The man stares back at the drow, "Lady, I don't doubt that coming from you. We've been using the High Sentinel Lodge as a base of operations. Since the fey appeared Rohkar made a deal that was he said "mutually beneficial". It was to till he got greedy and hit that caravan, now here you all are.
Course the fey wants these two for some reason, I guess you all escaped from them or something?" He looks to Freyr and nods to Frjya.
Grey hexes Hendra.
And then ponders what she knows about this High Sentinel Lodge.
Hmm I know of this lodge, once a mighty protection for this area, it has fallen on harder times, but last I had heard had not gone over to banditry. I guess my knowledge was out of date.
"So, I guess we'd have to pay a visit to this Lodge."
"The less you know about us, the safer you'll be in the long run. And while that answers my first question, it doesn't answer my second," Freyr says. "How many more of you are there? Are there any other fey and how many? Any traps or other defenses? Guard animals? And be thorough."
"The more you tell us the likelier we'll be to make it to you boss and ensuring he doesn't know of your involvement." Fryja said as she stepped up the the bandit. "Do you happen to know if your boss has spoken to the Fey of us?" She asked.
Greivous turns to the man, remaining silent... Although she's sure she could probably get the man to talk if she really wanted to... Hobgoblin had their ways ... Even if the man was being completely honest...
Into the Border Wood
The bandit shrugs, "Yeah sure, why not. I've got nothin to lose and everything ta gain by assisting you fine folks.
I mean how bad could you all be, you haven't killed me or tortured me. Rohkar is a cleric, Norgorber I think I don't pay attention to his "sermons".
He's got 10 guys at the lodge but half of em have frostbite or somethin. He's also got a few undead at his command, he made em with the Fey so there's somethin not quite right about them. The fey I know of is Vrixx, I think there's others across the bridge but I don't go there. Oh there's also the half-orc, but she's new and he's the cook, kinda cute for a half breed but that's not my thing... er no offense to any of here of course!"
Lanyssa narrows her eyes and clenches her teeth before answering. "Beware of your 'thing', it might have been the last time you've had a chance to use it" she says while running her finger along the falchion's edge.
"Ten bandits, eleven if the cook is a fighter, though five of them ill, a cleric of Blackfingers, a few enhanced undead, and one fey. Manageable is we handle it carefully." Freyr looks more contemplative. "Any traps or other ambush points? And where's the lady you kidnapped yesterday?"
Greivous sighs. Half breeds... You know, there is a reason you never see any hobgoblin-human half breeds. We typically don't sleep with you humans... And when we do we usually don't keep the young... she walks up to the man, smoke coming from her pipe. Honestly though, those we get close enough to do that to are typically slaves. she flicks the ashes from her pipe at the man's feet. just a quick question, how did these undead come to be? Did the cleric make them or is there some other magic at work?
Into the Border Wood
The bandit seals his kips at Lanyssa's comments, it is Grievous' proximity that forces his trap back open, "The Lady. Not sure, I was sent back out on patrol, I'd bet somewhere in the Lodge though, he wants to ransom her off.
Rohkar raised her with the fey on his own, I think, there was paper nearby, magic's not my thing".
Seems a lot of things aren't this guy's thing...
Freyr just shakes his head. Interrogating the stupid ones was always and exercise in frustration. "Does anyone have any other questions for our friend? Or do we wrap this up so we can get moving?"
"He has nothing more to tell us. Put him out of his misery, or let him go, whatever you desire. Let's go find this Rohkar and Vrixx and get some answers from someone who can actually give them." Lurruk shrugs and starts preparing his gear to move onwards.
I'd like to get a look at that half-orc too! I wonder how she compares to Lanyssa. Lurruk glances at Lanyssa quickly as this thought crosses his mind.
Greivous smiles. Oh! I'll gladly put him out of his misery! she says lifting her crossbow and smiling like a bloodcraven mainiac. Hahaha, just kidding, it's far worse to live in pain than to die in it. she says, eying the bandit up and down. Like taking a bolt to the knee, you may never walk on that leg again...
Fryja shook her head slowly. "Though he did not answer how much they know of my brother and me, let him go. He has told us all he can." She said with a simple shrug.
"The man has no loyalty towards those giving orders, surrendered peacefully, and told us what he knows, I say we let him go, without any new holes," Faethara says, glancing at the hobgoblin as she does. "After all, he seems smart enough to realize that any funny business would be...ill-advised."
"I have no problem with this. And I did make a promise. I simply advise that he leave the woods as quickly as possible and get far away from this place."
Into the Border Wood
The bandit sighs in relief, "Woods, what woods". He crosses the far side of the ice and heads on down the path back to where you all came from.
Hendra remarks, "Don't like it. Don't trust him. See him again it's the last tie anyone will ever see him. Let's move".
---
The High Sentinel Lodge
Another mile southwest and you arrive at your destination after climbing at least a hundred feet into the hills, the snowy trail finally levels off. In a clearing among the trees, a large wooden lodge overlooks a ravine spanned by a long rope bridge. Smoke rises from the lodge’s two snow-covered chimneys, and large woodpile is stacked against the outer wall.
A small outbuilding stands east of the lodge, and a stone well nearly blanketed by snow is barely recognizable to the north. Several tracks lead southwest toward a detached stable.
Lanyssa
Grievous
Grey
Hendra
Freyr
Fryja
Lurruk
Lanyssa, Freyr, and Hendra all notice a trap set for the middle of the path leading to the Lodge.
"Knew there would be traps somewhere," Freyr mutters under his breath. "He kept refusing to answer that one. Always means they have something to hide. Let's try to move through the trees and avoid a direct approach."
"Agreed. If we set this off, they will know. Let's act as they would, to squeeze the surprise until the last second."
Grievous sighs, What with all this skulking... I don't mind it, but by the god's grace is sneaking around gonna make me mad...
"Maybe there is another entrance?" Frjya asked as she kept close to her twin. "Or away to get around the trap without setting it off?"
The High Sentinel Lodge
A quick check of the woods shows no traps, at least that any of you can see.
Lets try to get in without drawing too much attention to ourselves. The woods are not my favorite place to be, but it looks like it provides the most cover.
"I believe I agree with you. Unless someone has learned to disarm traps while I wasn't looking. Let's look for a back door or another entrance." Two steps into the woods, Freyr promptly steps on a branch half buried in the snow and it breaks with a resounding crack.
"Alright." Lanyssa is relieved that a decision is reached, even that one. "I'm no good stealther, so I'll follow you some metres behind. In case they catch me, you might be already in place for an ambush."
After the stealthy people have approached the cabbin, Lanyssa prays for heavenly guidance and tries her luck.
Despite hobgoblins natural stealthiness Greivous seems to lack all semblance of the word "sneaky" nearly stepping on every twig she comes across.
"I'm never good at this kind of thing..." Frjya muttered as she tried to be stealthy.
Faethara, much like the others, is not suited for stealthy maneuvers, especially in the snow, and traipses around like an idiot.
The High Sentinel Lodge
As the group tries to work it way around through the woods...
Lanyssa
Grievous
Grey
Hendra
Freyr
Fryja
Lurruk