Deylar is happy someone else recounts the tale but the situation does give him pause. No one is truly emerging as our spokesman. Is it possible I've met a group that's worse with people than I am? I may not be able to let this stand much longer ....
He nods at Aviz's thorough description with little need to interject. "so it would seem that the guard captain is also looking to hire Wyverns Soul. Is there special protocol to he followed? We do not want the appearance of double dealing on our first mission. "
Oswald grins. Hyeard about your little cyonundrum, actually. The myan's not particularly hyiring anyone. Snyot how it works. Extra gyold is always wyelcome, however." he says with a deep raspy laugh. Standing from his wall, he smiles, walking up to the 4 of you. "No such thying as double dyealing!" he says, patting Deylarr rather forcefully on the shoulder. "Take the myerits ya can, pal." he suggests.
"We'll do that. Come, let's get to work."
Agree, let's get to it!
Rova follows the group to the Drinking cow and enters, greeting Oswald with a hearty "Ho Oswald! Warrior and Guildmate!" The big orc immediately starts up drinking.
Standing as everyone settles in, Oswald can't help but stifle the eagerness of the group after he acknowledges Rova with a casual nod. "Hail indeed... friends. Turns out thyere's a bit... extrya, to this. I lyearned somethin' that may be of no consequence. Friend o' mine. Not the tyalkitive type. A Byagrin Syalt. Myercenary. Seems he's in these parts. I'd watch yer back if ya go styirring up trouble." he says, following with a "Hihihehehe" the laugh seems to consistently happen after everything he says, and it's still just as raspy.
Standing at the door and throwing it open, he says something else. "The cat's the only ryeason I'm partin' with this, but, if'n I had a guess. I hyeard a rumor about some noble hirin' salt, but that's the myost I'll say. I've got business to the east. Best of luck, dryips." he says as he walks out the door.
"I will kill that man." Rova states with no anger or bile, just matter of factly like adding cabbage to a grocery list.
"Only if necessary. Thank you for the warning." He glares at Rova, then continues to move forward.
The unanimous decision is met with the group walking outside only to see that Oswald wasted no time in leaving. Whether by magical means or surprising swiftness, he's most definitely out of view, whether it be through invisibility, or careful blurring into the crowd. He was wearing a hood, after all.
Befuddled, but not particularly worried, the group heads north, a walk that takes a surprising amount of time through the traffic of the city itself. No one particularly steps out to meet you and greet you as you head towards the northern bulwark of the city, part a single raggedy-looking messager.
A child walks up in rags, but presents to aviz a small wrapping of paper from a small parcel on his hip as you stare out the gates of the northern wall. Guards look at you with a grim outlook, but let you pass unmolested. Opening the parcel reveals the magical type of writing you might expect, delivered somewhat secretly in the form of a small homeless boy. Deylarr can, and does, easily identify it from a distance as the expected scroll of Dimension Door The scroll is somewhat valuable in its' own right.
While the guards don't approach you, one of them makes it a point to; a fat, hairy man with a grizzled beard. "You mus' be the ones're leavin' yeah? Gimme a moment." he says, looking to the guard in an upper tower, who promptly opens the gate. Looking back to you, he smiles, missing a few teeth. "If'n ye' headin' out to bismoth's fort, ye' might find some things at the caravan wreck on tha' road." he says.
The child that brought you the scroll was, in fact, a halfling, and most definitely not a child, though the look was fairly convincing.
Aviz watches the halfling leave. I hate subterfuge. He thanks the guard for his advice, then continues onward.
Walking on the road now, stretching his muscles, Rova bursts back into song. His long strides bring him ahead of the group, to where he needs to stop for a few seconds and allow the others to catch up.
The orc seems anxious as if he's ready to run. Orc troops could cover ground that much was for sure.
"Aviz, perhaps an aerial scouting run every so often?" he suggests.
"It would be my pleasure." To get away from that awful singing. Aviz takes off, buffeting the party with wind as he climbs to scout the area.
The talk with Oswald makes him a little bit uneasy - Saru has never felt at ease around other thieves and liars. He prefers the company of honest, upstanding citizens. They're that much easier to fool, after all.
Before everyone leaves the tavern, he stops them for a few moments. "Colleagues, I thought I might take a moment to introduce myself. In truth, of course.", and as they watch, his features and clothing morph from the courier's outfit to something much more...Wyvern's Soul. Thick auburn hair bursts from the head of an attractive eastern-looking fellow, with burnished brass skin and the aforementioned armor, only with an expensive-looking green suit underneath. "My name is Saru, and I am a shapeshifter and spellcaster under the employ of the Wyvern's Soul. I am at your service, offering the full range of my abilities." He gives a slight bow and a big grin. "Now, we have errands to run, yes?" and he leaves with the others.
He thanks the child absentmindedly for the scroll and tucks it away, into a pack on his back.
The walk on the way to the fort is surprisingly stale. The road is unpaved just a short ways out of Ostenso, but the road is certainly clear all the same. It is, however, surprising. Just a handful of miles out of the city, and the road already seems somewhat odd. It seems unattended, and untended.
Jahl'ra is fairly certain, and open, about the fact that multiple roads lead toward Ostenso from this very direction, and many don't even go through the northern fort of bismouth, he notes.
It's one thing for the goblins to cut off a single road for a moment. It's another for goblins to take over an entire fort. To completely cut off multiple roads and trade routes is... beyond the average goblin chieftain.
He drones on this for quite some time.
The view is, as pre-informed, dominated by that of an oncoming wide forest that continues towards the destination. However, it is obstructed by a hill.
Far off in the distance, up to about 200 feet, is the beginning of what appears to be a forest. Before that, however, is a small caravan. A wreck that is just over the hill. No fire seems to be coming from it, but it was assuredly burned as parts of the wreck are more than just charred. Getting a better look from such a height is impossible, however.
Aviz drifts down slowly to get a better look, making sure he's coming down from the opposite direction of the sun.
Deylar is not very familiar with the running of a city but the state of the roads does strike him as odd. For all the evil that House Thrune imparts on the city of Westcrown at least the place has a sense of order and discipline that one had to appreciate.
The tiefling spends most of the walk lost in his own thoughts, thoughts ironically enough about how he needs to fight his basic nature and begin interacting with these people and the people they meet. Nethys teaches that knowledge is power. What knowledge can be gained by not trying to learn from others and the world around them?
Of course it is easy to come to this conclusion but harder to put it into practice. Deylar does not find much opportunity on the open road (deciding not to sing along with Rova) and their is little banter beyond that. Looking up to check on Aviz he sees that the scout is moving in to check on something. Maybe this will be the impetus he needs ....
[soiler=Aviz]Careful inspection of the area leaves a lot to be curious about. For starters and most importantly, among the rubble is a rummaging goblin. The only reason that the creature wasn't readily apparent was because of it's uncharacteristically black skin, but from an aerial perspective it's rather easy to see.
All the same, you're easy to see as well, or atleast, easier than you thought. Even with the silhouette blocking your form, the goblin's neck practically snaps to look up at you, but it remains there, frozen, somewhat, seemingly unsure if you see it. You realize that the others don't have a line of sight with it.[/spoiler]
Clearing the hill, the group happens across the broken remains of a charred caravan, curtly destroyed and well beyond repair. No smoke trail pervades it, and it happens to be right at the edge of the forest.
Aviz lets his eyes slide over, scanning the rest of the area as if he's still trying to find something. Then he takes off with a grunt of disappointment, heading back to the party.
"There's a dark skinned goblin rummaging up there, we should hurry before it runs off."
"Goblin? HAHAA!" Rova exclaims setting off at a dead sprint.
He ceases his song and moves forward with longs muscular leaps and bounds. Keeping low when he tops the hill.
Aviz grabs Rova by the collar. "Slow down. You could be inning right into an ambush:"
Rova half heartedly tries to break Aviz's grip.
"With Rova the Strong, any ambush is a reverse ambush! They will rue the day their puny brains concocted such a plan. Come brother, the Destroyer is with us!"
"Also you could scare him off before you get there. Let me get a view on him first." Aviz flies up, staying a bit ahead of the party to try and spot the black creature should it start running.
Gliding slowly towards the Goblin with a fast-moving Rova below (With the others somewhat slower in route at what I'd say is typical speed) Aviz has just enough time to recognize that the goblin officially knows he's been seen. Whether from a surprising bit of bravery or not, however, the creature visibly grins wide just as the others clear the hill as Rova storms across it. In some form of gibberish it yips yells and clicks, not to mention bangs its teeth together, while bashing its spear excitedly against the rubble. As it does, from the forest comes arrows in triplicate.
All the same, beyond those, come more goblins, holding the typical weapons of their kind; Dogslicers.
As this realization sets in, the arrows graze Aviz's thigh, and one punctures Rova's shoulder. Getting hit by the first arrow however puts Aviz's reflexes on high alert, and he immediately dodges the second, much more accurate arrow that happened to be going for his chest. The chattering erupts into a roar, and you finally, finally, finally get your first taste of true combat...
Aviz
Dogslicer Goblin
Longbow Goblin
Dogslicer Goblin
Longbow Goblin
Rova
Deylarr
Accurate Composite Longbow Goblin
Longspear Goblin
???
Saruwatori
Dogslicer Goblin
"And that was about the time it started to go downhill..."
On my turn.
The arrow impacting his shoulder doesn't even slow the fearsome orc, he lets out a roar of bestial anger and charges down the hill at the little soot covered goblin.
"Destroyer!" he screams.
The screaming orc's weapon streaks with lightning speed toward the neck of the goblin with disturbing grace. As if guided by a malevolent spirit bent on the death of all before Rova.
Aviz flies towards the group of goblins holding dogslicers, landing 15 feet in front of them, spanning out his wings and twirling his blade. "Come you cowards, even grounded you are no threat to me! Your parents were piss rotten bastards and you're nothing but cannon fodder for my blade!"
As Deylar crests the hilltop and everything breaks into chaos, the priest watches as his group scatters and arrows rain down from around them.
"Wait......but........stay together!" Acting quickly to affect as many allies as possible with his spells, he tiefling calls on his magics for aid.
As the energies settle over him, Deylar grasps his holy symbol. He reaches out with his senses and warps that energy, sending it back out in a wave of blue light that washes over his nearby companions.
Satisfied that he has done what he can for the moment the priest begins moving closer to the battle to be ready for whatever comes next.
As Aviz lands and boasts towards the oncoming goblins, Rova rushes up to his side, though a short bit ahead to take on the goblin just ahead of him. The fight breaks out into what can only be desrcribed as absolute chaos over the short course of 6 seconds.
The first dogslicer goblin rushes past Rova and the goblin with the longspear, chittering foreign words as it does but the word "Donkey Rats" stands out amongst the gibberish, just before a cleaving strike from Aviz cuts deep into the creature's chest and downs it. The Goblin with the longspear's head practically snaps as it looks to the goblin who'd just been cut down, and whistles loudly before Rova is finally upon it.
From the forest line comes yet another arrow, striking once again at Aviz, if only because he'd just cleanly swiped one of the goblins before it'd finished it's sentence rather rudely.
The goblins reveal, then, something that's awfully surprising for the knowledable Jahl'ra. Common sense. Being that Rova has yet to arrive, and their only choice is to attack the dextrous winged creature ahead of them, the second dogslicer goblin shouts in it's alien tongue as well something different. Quickly and shortly, save for maybe rova in his rage, the group realizes that these goblins aren't just shouting gibberish, but what seem to be strategies and orders and the majority of them are coming from the goblin with the longspear.
The second goblin stops just short of Aviz's range, taking a defensive posture with his dogslicer, and keeping a close eye on the tip of that weapon. Just as soon as it stops, however, another arrow looses itself from the forest line.
The arrow misses just short of Aviz's feat and lands between him and the goblin he's currently staring down, comically close to the bleeding body of the unconscious goblin between the two of them.
Bursting over the hill, Rova charges the "Soot covered" goblin when, in fact, all of the goblins have that soot covered complexion to them for some reason. Regardless, his blow does indeed land, and without the proper time to brace for it, he strikes unerringly, chopping deep (For a goblin, of course) into the small creature's chest. Surprisingly the small creature doesn't just fall over, as it's black, yet miniscule studded leather armor takes most of the blow, albeit poorly.
Deylarr, seeing the situation unfold, boasts his allies and himself, before touching a finger to his forehead and casting guidance on himself before progressing forward into the range of his allies, leaving Jahl'ra and Saruwatori behind.
Seeing the massive orc get dangerously close, and dangerously deep into the longspear goblin, whom appears to be the leader of the pack, the third arrow that comes from the forest comes from a somewhat different-looking goblin, whom has painted the left side of his face entirely green, and pulls his stronger bow back with a surprising potency. In his rage, and apathetic status of pain, Rova does little, and notices little, of the arrow that shortly lands in his breast. Whether it be from dumb luck, or his muscle thickness, it does little.
Reacting to the wound with a fury, and a surprising one at that, the goblin finds his balance and grips his longspear tightly before thrusting at Rova with all the might it has in him, albeit inaccurately.
Surprising to everyone, the goblin is far stronger than it looks, and while the blow may have been innacurate, it still manages to catch Rova's hip and tear away more than just a little bit of flesh as it passes him, if only because of the shoddy, brittle craftsmanship of the weapon itself.
From the distance of the forest, and much to everyone's dismay, at exactly 70 feet away from behind the green faced goblin, shows up something that the group could honestly have done without.
A Bugbear.
Just behind the green face goblin he emerged with no issue, and raises what appears to be a heavy crossbow, aiming it carefully. From the weapon burst a white blur, aimed particularly at, surprisingly, Jahl'ra, in the far distance.
The arrow unfortunately misses, but as the weapon whips past deylarr, he quickly identifies it with a somewhat curious expression before continuing his hastened pace towards the combat.
It is Saruwatori's Turn, and then Aviz may go, as the goblin behind the original will also take a total defense action
As soon as combat starts, Saru's eyes begin to dart back and forth, between the different competing forces. Then, his eyes fix on the goblins within the forest in the back, and he shouts to his allies, "Take care of the big ones, will you?"
And then he vanishes from sight, and footsteps can be heard rustling in the grass, headed towards the goblins in the forest.
Aviz immediately focuses on the bugbear, twisting away from the enemies he is engaged with and charging the bugbear with an avian war cry.
Aviz successfully jumps and dives directly over the goblins that were in front of him with little to no issue. Their weapons aren't even capable of reaching him as wings over just above them as he feints to flee. The bugbear's eyes widen as you land directly in front of the green faced goblin, who is also just as surprised.
The weapon lands precisely where it needs to be, in the bugbear's torso. He immediately grips the wound and recoils with a roar before backing up a bit.
The goblins that were left in the dust look around with little to focus on after being foiled, but one quickly realizes just how much danger their "leader" is in, and rushes to aid him with a dogslicer ready.
Unfortunately his will just isn't there, and he misses foolishly. The second goblin with a dogslicer rushes to meet the only seemingly less dangerous person in the group: Deylarr, charging at him directly.
The blow merely nicks him, mostly out of the goblin's reckless enthusiasm to not be under attack. After all, Deylarr had no weapons drawn.
At the sudden impact of Aviz, whom realizes that all 3 goblins that were shooting are over here, spaced out by 10 feet, one of the goblins turns their arrows on him, shooting at him as best they can.
Fortunately for the strix, the arrow merely goes through the outer feathers of his wings.
[b]It is Rova and Deylarr's turns
His eyes deadly focused with an anger that the goblins cannot fathom, Rova brings his swords to bare against the longspear wielding goblin.
Running up Deylar sees the battlefield unfolding as he approaches. These foes are clearly not the mindless goblins they were expecting, and the tiefling cannot help but wonder why they did not take the captain's warnings more seriously. Too late for second guessing now the priest steps back before falling into the rhythms of casting again. This time a touch to his holy symbol causes the high-pitched chiming of a bell to ring out across the field. Again the gift of Nethys washes over the party, and again Deylar grabs it and warps it to the groups advantage.
Running up Deylar sees the battlefield unfolding as he approaches. These foes are clearly not the mindless goblins they were expecting, and the tiefling cannot help but wonder why they did not take the captain's warnings more seriously. Too late for second guessing now the priest steps back from the goblin before falling into the rhythms of casting again. This time he does not touch his holy symbol, but as the chanting stops the symbol glows with a black power, a power that after a brief instant flies through the air before slamming unerringly into the goblin who just attacked him.
As the goblin closes in to swing again, Deylar stomps his foot on the ground between them. With a loud rumble a wall of stone springs up between him and his attacker.
As Rova swings wildly he pays little heed to accuracy, which the goblin seems to excel at making useless. While the goblin struck with clarity, he atleast made sure the attacks were on point before thrusting with his shortspear. As he does, he feels himself awash in the holy powers of a foreign deity. Regardless, the powers were clear, and it'd no doubt help to end this goblin shortly, blasphemous or not.
The goblin with the facepaint quickly realizes just how bad a situation he's actually in. He's unable to flee the maximum distance, and he has his bow out. However, it is loaded, and as a result, he wastes no time in attempting to get away from the situation.
He tumbles poorly, and Aviz clips him with the Fauchard respectively, to which the goblin replies loudly with more chittering. The bugbear merely takes his steps back and, in a deep voice merely says. "Yeeaaaah" with a throat full of marbles.
With his new distance, taking full advantage of his location He fires another shot at Aviz.
Once again, the attack is aimed at a vital area, but misses somewhat as Aviz ducks shortly, expecting yet another shot at the neck. In the distance, Rova roars with a fury as his blades catch air, and the goblin responds in kind.
While the return attack is fierce, it is just as innaccurate as the first, which the goblin quickly notes with Rova's knives coming close to his neck again in response.
The Bugbear, far off again, near Aviz, takes a 5 foot step back and quickly reloads his Heavy Crossbow. Fast, of course, but only for a heavy crossbow. Looking down at it, he thinks for a moment, notably, tossing a look back at the goblin with face paint, before turning around and fleeing with as much speed as he possibly can, much to the dismay of the green faced goblin who looks on in more outrage than surprise.
It unfortunately catches air as the Bugbear withdraws from the combat deeper into the forest.
Saruwatori's Turn
Aviz roars and charges at the bugbear, saying something in a strange old language.
Although it's pretty easy to tell whatever he said isn't very nice.
Aviz stands over his prey, ready to trip him again if he stands.
Saru continues to move forward, towards the archer goblins, and as he does so he mutters again, casting another spell. He holds off on using it, though. He knows he can hold the spell for as long as he will need it.
The second goblin attempts, with all it's power, to strike at Deylarr once again, but is thwarted entirely by the sudden wall of stone between the two of you which appears from what the goblin is sure is nowhere.
The weapon is taken on high just as soon as the tower comes up and nearly trips the goblin as it does. On the other side, yet another dogslicer goblin attempts to assist Rova, taking a 5 foot step around him and garnering a flank.
Even with the flank, however, the attack swings wide as Rova bends with the full force of his body with all attacks. His thick skin and armor merely deflect the blows that are targeted against him in his fervor.
Turning around and looking back towards Aviz, the goblins grimace. Shooting into the field was one thing, but shooting through the full brush of the trees was another, unfortunately.
It proves to be far too much for the goblins to handle and the arrows bounce harmlessly off the trees and clink to the earthy ground.
In this event, just as the arrows hit the ground, Aviz sweeps the legs of the bugbear who topples to the ground with a heave.
As soon as the bugbear tries to stand to flee Aviz trips it again.
Rova slices brutally at the spear goblin.
His second attack goes toward the goblin attempting to flank him.
The battle seems to be going well. A quick glance at the companions he can see tells Deylar that no one is gravely injured to the point of needing healing and the magics he is using seem to be aiding his companions. The bugbear was the real challenge here, and was not going to go down without a fight. It was going to need their full attention and soon.
In order to do that, the field needed to be cleared a bit. He takes a step back from the goblin attacking him and concentrates for a moment. He can feel the power inside him, not from his faith but from his very nature, a power that can both heal and harm. It is this duality this dichotomy within his own soul that drew him to worship Nethys in the first place. Looking at the goblin in front of him Deylar calls on that power and releases a bolt of hot white energy at it.
HP:37/40
Heavenly Fire: 7/8
Divine Vessel: 6/8
Channel: 6/6
Sorc Spells - Lvl 1: 5/5
Standard Cleric Spells
0-level (DC15): Detect Magic, Create Water, Guidance, Mending
1-level (DC16):
2-level (DC17): Bull's Strength, Resist Energy, Grace, Bless Water (dom)
The goblin with green face paint, upon seeing Deylarr take off towards the bugbear realizes that, upon looking around, that this would be his only chance to escape, and taking that chance, despite an invisible Saruwatori in dangerous proximity, decides that the battle is more than just lost.
Wasting no time, however, he still has one thing left to do. Pulling a small horn from his pouch no bigger than a conch shell, he grimaces, before blowing into it. A type of magic is behind the trivial horn, as it releases a series of noises. One long resounding noise that you imagine could be heard for miles. First, a long, drawn out blast as loud as a dragon's roar, then a fast one, and then a long one again. He then proceeds to flee diagnolly away from the fight in comparison to the bugbear.
Despite the rush of the situation, it is more than just a little difficult to keep track of his whereabouts as he disappears into the concealment of the forest.
All the same, north ahead, the bugbear hears the noise and grins with a glee, and proceeds to stand up only to have the glave thrusted into his gullet again. Pinned to the ground via the tip of the weapon, he throws his weapon down, realizing he's not going to be able to get away. Tossing his hands up, he grumbles with blood trickling out of the side of his mouth. "Mercy... Mercy!" he says in a grumbling, yet sincere tone.
It is Saruwatori's turn. The goblin that Deylarr struck is unconscious. It is also Aviz's turn.