"Sometimes violence is something your born, or forced into Mr. Rrruh." Krogge said as he thought to himself, perhaps he is right though... will these soldiers be welcoming of so many strange faces? he looked around. "We should keep our heads down, who knows how they'll feel about our... strange party." he said as he pulled the hood from his poncho over his head.
It is Randu who actually sounds optimistci, "Say what you want about the Consortium, but let's tip our hats with respect to the soldiers of our good nation's army. These lads, and lasses, dedicate their lives to keeping us free. It's thanks to them we halflings can walk as free as a human in a lot of parts of Andoran, and gods bless em, I say."
Krogge listens to Randu, "You can? Andoran... thats the land we are on right? What makes Andoran better than other land?" he ask seriously.
"Because it tries," Randu says "It.. we, try to have it so that as soon as you set foot on this soil, your freedom is known and recognized, celebrated. We break chains, and were born on a dream no man woman or child who has done no crime should be in chains. Andoran is a promise, an idea, that every person is worth the same as another person, a rich man no greater than a fellow digging ditches when it comes to his right to speak his mind and select who will speak for him. You may have noticed it's a failed promise, an idea that isn't working... but the word is yet. Andoran dreams go down every day, but it's the only place in the world I know where every morning that idea gets up from the dust each time and says "Alright, let's try that again" and the next time it gets better. Enough better than yesterdays and we may yet wake up to a truly free tomorrow. That's something to be patriotic for." A blush "apologies. I probably sound like a fool."
"Naw, that was really inspirational!" Sweet Pea replies. She ponders a bit on Randu's speech. "Wait, you mean there's other places where halflings aren't free as humans?"
"Naw, that was really inspirational!" Sweet Pea replies. She ponders a bit on Randu's speech. "Wait, you mean there's other places where halflings aren't free as humans?"
"Thrice Damned Cheliax comes to mind. At least the empires of Kellish try to enslave everyone equally I hear, but it's still wrong. In Cheliax and some other lands, I'd be a slave for sure...why even in Andoran, you'll hear the slight of 'Slip' thrown into the teeth of some halfling now and then...something not to say we are small, but meant to make us feel small...like we are worth less than 'a real sized person'. Fah, but there are Halfling magistrates and businessmen, halflings on the great council in the capitol. And pleanty of folks don't go about saying "I am a Human" or "I am a halfling" or even "I am a half orc" they go about and say "Im an Andoran". That's a powerful thing, Sweet Pea. To be seen as a countryman and equal? Mind you, like I said, it don't always hold up, but it's the goal and it works well. In Cheliax? A halfling isn't even allowed hope."
"Wow, you sure are an interesting bunch," Jillia says with a smile. "And you sure are right, Mister Randu. That's another thing my Pa would always talk about, how great Andoran is. My brothers and sisters never got to go to school, living out here on the frontier, but one of the words Pa made sure we knew was 'abolition.'"
Simply pronouncing the word brings a beaming glow to the young servant woman's face.
"I don't think there's another land in the world that does so much to stamp out slavery. Of course, I've heard that doesn't make Andoran many friends among other lands. That's probably why they need all the lumber - to build ships to protect against those enemies. Of course, that gives the Consortium too much free rein to treat folks so badly out here."
Jillia quickly claps a hand over her mouth, reflexively afraid of speaking ill of her bosses.
"hehe Hey Jillia, Blast the Consortium and Blast Kreed and and all the lot that stand in Jack's way. If Andoran really stands for all those things, He'll Bring them to The Hollow." Krogge says, very assure of himself.
"It sounds like Andoran could do a better job of enforcing its values locally though. Sometimes you have to do things yourself." he says as he stares off up road, Like me.
"Is there an inn like Falcon's Hollow? Maybe one with some more fine mead?" he asks hopefully with a devilish grin.
"Chelliax is indeed a place of to take care in. I traveled through it briefly on my way here searching for stories... I did not stay long I did not like how the folk there stared so. Many lands here on our world hold slavery as a thing that is permissible. But there are more forms of slavery than the binding of chains."
He paused and tilted his head to the side for a moment as if he were pondering if what he was about to say was ...wise.
"I would hold that the pratices of the Consortium on the workers is as akin to slavery as placing manacles on someones wrists, just more cleverly hidden. You heard what they tried to do. An axe tax really? You must now pay for the very things needed to make the company money. They own or have in their pockets all the stores, so the money they pay the workers just goes right back to them. When is the last time one of the lumber workers earned enough coin to get out of the backbreaking work they are in? Yet Kreed and his cronies seem to have plenty of coin to us. "
He paused again glancing torwards Jillia, she had proven friendly enough but was she secretly a spy from Kreed.
You know all the stretches and working out I have been doing with the folks of falcon's hollow in the morning Krogge? Those are the beginning steps into learning my familys style of fighting passed down through generations from the lands in Tien. Used for peasants defending themselves against the depredations of greedy rulers and soldiers following orders. I do not wish for violence nor do i want violence for those innocent people, alas sometimes however the downtrodden must rise up to show those in power they wont be trod upon anymore. I do hope they have a fine mead... maybe a good red wine yes yes."
He grinned at the others for a moment and shot them a wink.
"A beautiful dark furred lass of one of my folk, dancing a Sa'sara or singing would be a nice surprise as well. But I doubt that would be an occurance."
"Oh, you'll hear me fuss about Andoran, particularly parts like the Consortium. I love what Andoran should be, which is why I have a duty to complain about how it is." but he quiets a bit more, a bit embarrassed by his rash of chatter. Sweat Pea's gotten to me, that's it.
"Well, I think Andoran would be a lot better with more folks like you around," Jillia declares. "Especially out here on the frontier, bring all those ideals north. You see, that's the problem. Once you get past Oregent, the Council just doesn't have the resources, the manpower, or even the clout to enforce its laws and protect its people."
The discussion of fun at an inn elicits a laugh that fades into a sigh from the cleaning girl.
"If you mean the fort, then no," she says, her grin returning. "An extra bunkhouse for travelers is the biggest amenity the garrison offers. Other than serving as a way station for the shipments of darkwood coming south from Falcon's Hollow, Fort Freng doesn't see much use or excitement.
"Now, once we get to Olfden, you might have a better chance. At least a slightly better chance. You see, Olfden is twice the size of Falcon's Hollow, but it's about half as exciting. Still, the way folks have been trying to draw in adventurers and explorers, that's fixing to change. There's this one inn, The Silver Bulette, that's been getting especially popular. Rowdy, too."
Your group draws closer to the fort, close enough to see the guard standing atop the parapet. Jillia looks up, and a clear look of confusion crosses her face.
"Hmm, that's odd," she muses aloud, but in a hushed tone.
You know all the stretches and working out I have been doing with the folks of falcon's hollow in the morning Krogge? Those are the beginning steps into learning my familys style of fighting passed down through generations from the lands in Tien. Used for peasants defending themselves against the depredations of greedy rulers and soldiers following orders. I do not wish for violence nor do i want violence for those innocent people, alas sometimes however the downtrodden must rise up to show those in power they wont be trod upon anymore.
Krogge grins, "That is good. Perhaps one day Falcons Hollow really will be rid of its evils."
"Hmm, that's odd," she muses aloud, but in a hushed tone.
"Whats odd Jillia?" Krogge said, gripping his club underneath his poncho as he looks around for danger.
Jillia 2 strains to get a look at what Jillia 1 is worried about.
"What, is there something wrong with the fort?"
The wide open, natural landscape is laid bare before your eyes. The lone guard stops his patrol on the wooden walls and watches your group carefully. He appears very nervous.
"I don't recognize that soldier on the walls," Jillia answers. "I've gotten to know each of the dozen soldiers garrisoned here over the many times I've traveled this road. Of course, that could just mean he's newly assigned, but he's also not wearing his helmet."
She pauses briefly and chews her lip, mulling this observation.
"The fort's captain is very lax on many things, but he is unusually strict about ensuring that the soldiers under his command always wear their full armor when on duty. He would never allow that man to go about on patrol with an uncovered head. I think something's wrong."
"Now that is odd." The halfling frowns, "Well, there goes my trusting mood. But how do we learn more about what's going on without putting our necks in a proverbial noose if there is trouble?"
"He looks nervous... You better take the lead here, Jillia," he says in a hushed tone,"you know the place better than any of us and we have your back." he says, securing his grip firmly on his club under his poncho.
"Now that is odd." The halfling frowns, "Well, there goes my trusting mood. But how do we learn more about what's going on without putting our necks in a proverbial noose if there is trouble?"
"We act as if nothing is wrong, but keep your dagger, and uh, talents, close by. If they want us to surrender weapons we can always camp in the wilderness. Its not as bad as everyone makes it out it to be if you know how to do it right, and we have enough of use here we can set up watches." he says encouragingly.
Randu nods at Krogge, glad to trust his expertise on nature and survival in it. And glad to have him.
He frowned at Jillias words. Could the fort have gotten so lax? Did perhaps some bandits manage to over take the fort? This was serious amd worrying. His tail began to lash violently left to right.
okay then be prepared.
An enigmatic look crosses the cleaning girl's face, and she purses her lips thoughtfully.
"I may be crazy to suggest this, but please wait here while I talk with them," she asks. "Whomever that is atop the wall, he may be less on guard, less nervous talking to me alone."
Jillia walks towards the fort with surprising poise given the potential secrets that may lie behind its walls. For several long minutes, she speaks to the man above.
No arrows fly and there is no sign of alarm from the fort, and Jillia soon returns.
"Have you folks heard of a group of local bandits called the Blastwaters?" she asks, briefly casting a glance behind her. "I fear that they have infiltrated and seized the fort. That man definitely lacks the bearing of a soldier and more resembles a common crook. If I'm right, then frankly I'm not sure what the best option is."
"What if I fly over?" Sweet Pea suggests, "I could get a look inside, and maybe some will chase me out, and then we won't have to fight 'em all at once!"
"As much as a nice bed and better cooked food appeal to me yes yes, I do not suggest we stop here for the night. We can continue on for a few hours, slip off the road, set up a hidden camp. Perhaps once true nightfall begins Krogge and I can sneak back and see how many there are and what the situation is, or we can all go, If there are not many perhaps we can take them by surprise and rout them. Though we would have to abandon the fort. It is probably just best we take this information and give it to the next town we see."
He offered his tail lashing. He was very annoyed at the audacity of these bandits. The hangmans noose was too good for them.
"I'm fair at sneaking myself" He says, and offers.
"Going around and then sneaking back to check it out at night is best. If they are bandits, they are too close to Falcons Hollow." he say as he looks for an alternate route,"looks like its mostly rolling hills and plains around here but we might be able to find a nice spot out of sight if we press on now."
"Wait for twilight when we sneak back?"
“We’d want to arrive a bit after twilight, it will be hardest for humans to see at that point.” Krogge says knowingly before looking at the rest of them, “uhh speaking of that, how well do you all see at night? I’ve always been able to see pretty well in my immediate surroundings no matter how dark it got at night.”
"Better than most," The halfling says "When I have help" And an Owl settles on top of it and gazes around, "This is Sage. Kindly don't be spreading too much word about he and I together when return back to the Hollow. We have a..connection."
"I would not be much of a cat if I could not see well in the dark yes yes."
He began with a feline like grin... because well he was a feline.
“I can see all right at night.”
"I'm somewhat relived to hear you all so eager to look into this," Jillia says. The cleaning girl does not seem intimidated by the prospect of infiltrating the fort. "If we waited until we reached Olfden or Adamas to report this, who knows what the Blastwaters might get up to in the meantime?"
As suggested, the group continues down the road southward. Rises and shallow depressions in the lumpy, uneven plains soon conceal you and the fort from each other's sight. Eventually, you find a secluded dell just off the road in which to make camp.
You then creep back up the road under the dying light of dusk. By the time the fort and crossroads are again within sight, the scene is lit by stars and a gibbous moon. No torches or lanterns light the walls, and from this distance you cannot see if anyone still keeps watch.
(+2 more if this counts as a hilly or rocky area)
Randu is no woodsman proper, nor scout, but he has been avoiding notice by humans he wanted to avoid all his days as most halflings do. And He's good at it. Sage's gift lets his vision pierce the shadows
Once they make camp Krogge sets to the task of trying to whittle a dagger hilt out of some of his darkwood sticks.
but he is too focused on their raid tonight and ends up with nothing more than a sharpened darkwood stick.
As they creep up on the fort Krogge has his bow drawn and ready.
19 if we are in a natural setting.
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He focused more on getting to the walls than bothering to look if there was anything to see, after all they were sneaking in.
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Sweet Pea hasn't yet been able to shake off the effects of using her powers. Her eyes shine subtly, and the sound of a gentle breeze rustling through a forest canopy follows her everywhere.
Krogge finds a nice spot to crouch down behind some brush or a bush and covers Rrruh with his longbow while he approaches the wall and secures the rope, while he watches he hears a rustling sound of leaves and looks over to see Sweet Pea, doing her best to stay hidden, but the sounds of leaves crunching and blowing follows her ever breath. Well it was nice on the road, but she's gonna have to learn to control that before she gets us killed! he thinks to himself.
If he can meet her eye, Krogge will first put a finger up to his lips in a SHH motion, then point his finger up in the air several times rapidly.
Your too loud on the ground, try flying.
Inching closer to the benighted fort, you find its walls and towers empty. No one stands guard or marches on patrol. During the approach, Krogge and Randu can distinguish coarse voices within the fort. Whomever it is that squats in the fort, they hear the sounds conjured as Sweet Pea draws closer, but they attribute it to an animal. Nevertheless, concerned that wolves may be on the prowl, the speakers remain alert.
Rrruh lassos the looped end of his rope around a knot upon the wooden walls, and he effortlessly scales the fifteen-foot height.
The remaining five occupiers are clearly not human, and as one turns their ashen face towards the moon, you discover that they are hobgoblins. They bear sturdier arms and patrol the yard with more confidence. One of them, clad in a mail shirt that glints in the starlight, speaks to his subordinates in their own tongue.
Sage soars through the clear night sky, winging his way above the fort. Through your link, you can feel impressions of what his strong eyes see. Eight people stand within the fort. Three are human. Five are not.
Sage can also hear something else, beneath the talking in the yard. From below one of the bunkhouses, he hears many other bodies moving around. In fact, he likens the sounds of one of them to those that you make. Is there another halfling in a cellar under the barracks?
Randu gestures to his nearest compatriots, making a gesture of three, then a high up hand, and a rounded motion like the curve of a human ear. Then he makes a gesture for five... but a question mark slash. Then finally.. One, jerking a thumb to himself and making a low motion.
Krogge makes eye contact with Randu when he starts to hear voices, good he can hear them too... now what's trying to say...
He nods at Randu and Sweet Pea to make their way over the wall while keeping his bow trained on the wall and scanning around for any unwanted attention.
Amid his gestures which probably seem like nonsense, the halfling also casts the message spell...
The magic carries the message "Sage sees three humans, five beingss I don't know... and there maybe a halfling below. Maybe more still. This maybe bigger than bandits."
Rrruh sees that the three humans remain huddled close together, clearly wary of their non-human companions. In fact, they do nothing to disguise their distrust for the others.
The other five move more freely about the fort and its buildings. One of them begins to stoke a fire in the cookhouse while another retrieves thick slices of meat from a salting barrel. Two of the others withdraw into the bunkhouse and do not emerge immediately, but you can hear the sound of rustling leather and clanking metal.
Randu looks to the others for their suggestions, he is no leader, and certainly no tactician
This might be a bigger fight than the 4 of us can handle if there are 8 of them...should we pull back? Krogge wispers to Randu and Sweet Pea through the message spell.
He climbed back down from his perch and moved torwards the others Once close enough he would relay the things he saw. The humans huddled together, the others wandering the two hobgoblins going inside to either sleep or well... you know. it did sound like they were undressing.
"I left the rope knotted just over there, we wait an hour, maybe two for them to either break into more patrols or stop sleeping then we strike. We start with the hut. If we can take them out while the sleep that will cut down the odds. I dont think the humans are the biggest threat, they cant see very well at all."
He whispered to the others.
"Hobgoblins? In this area, what is this, Isger?" A mutter as he listens to Rrruh, "I can create a simple illusion, nothing fancy, if that'll help. Spread a bit of fear but that will likely make one yell his head off so best held in reserve." to Krogge, he says "if soldiers are being kept prisoner there, or one of my own kind hiding to stay alive... then I'm not sure leaving them be is the best course despite the risk. on the other hand, gods forgive me, I'm not too ethical that I won't be fine with slitting a sleeping bandit's throat"
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The two hobgoblins emerge from the bunkhouse, now clad in their armor and carrying their weapons. The march towards the fort gate and peer out, looking for the wolves they believe are on the prowl. They do not notice the party, hidden out of sight in the lee of the wall. Satisfied, they withdraw back into the fort, closing the gate behind them and lowering the bar into place.
As Rrruh suggests, the party waits an hour, hidden at the foot of the fort walls. The smell of smoke and roasted food carries upon the air, then quickly fades once they finish supper. After, as you wait, the soft night wind is the only thing that finds you during this time. You scale the rope and surmount the parapet, while Sweet Pea's wings carry her aloft.
A pair of sentries stand on watch duty in the yard: one human and one hobgoblin. The others presumably sleep in the bunkhouse, office, cookhouse, or storage barn within the fort's walls. From your vantage point, it is clear that the two guards are more watchful against each other than any potential intruders. The human nervously thumbs through a book, but he frequently looks up from the page to see if the hobgoblin has moved. For his part, the hobgoblin is content to sharpen his sword upon a whetstone, although he occasionally leers at the human when he has his attention, trying to spook him.
He undid the rope that lead to the outside of the wall sliding along the wall until he found a spot he believed kept him out of sight of the two guards, he tied it off there and let it down inside the compound.With one final quiet word with the archer (and slingstoner as I beleive may be the case with Randu) he moved to slip down into the wall.
"Focus fire, and when i get into trouble I'll make for the rope. Only leap down if you see me cut off. The hobgoblins I believe are the more dangerous of the foes. yes yes."
And with that he climbed down the rope
"You said some look like they don't like the others?" Sweet Pea asks, just before the group moves over the wall, "Maybe we can get one side to fight on our side?"
-----
Flying above the fort in the dark, Sweet Pea is just another night breeze.
In position, Randu dcan do little but wait, he's not going to shoot early and start a fight.
A thought does occur to him, and he casts detect magic to see if there are spells or effects within range of it. Perhaps the hobgolbins have more resources than are visible to the eye
"If there's a hobgoblin and a human we should take the hobgoblin out first. Especially if they are armed." Sounds like knifetongue was right about there being more of them...
Once they scale the wall Krogge will keep close to Randu, waiting for Rrruh's signal to let his arrow fly.
The guards on duty, let alone those sleeping indoors, haven't the faintest clue that intruders are upon them. Randu can spot not even the faintest of magical auras around the fort. Nothing the bandit squatters carry or anything left behind by the proper garrison shows signs of enchantment.